How OSU grades against Tennessee

On December 22, 2024By Littum

The humiliating loss to Michigan raised plenty of doubts about the Ohio State football team.

Those criticisms were addressed Saturday with a 42-17 whipping of Tennessee in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

Up next: A quarterfinal rematch with Oregon No. 1 in the Rose Bowl on January 1st.

How did it go Buckeyes class on Saturday? Leaves are awarded on a zero-to-five basis.

Ohio State offense (5 leaves)

It’s amazing what happens when you play to your team’s strengths, isn’t it? After a puzzling strategy against Michigan, the Buckeyes remembered they have a talent edge on the outside and opened things up. As colleague Rob Oller joked, the Buckeyes might “not show this against Michigan.” Ha ha.

Quarterback Will Howard was outstanding, completing 24 of 29 passes for 311 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He also ran five times for 37 yards. His biggest mistake was an interception of the end. Yes, the officials should have called pass interference on the play, but Howard threw to a receiver who wasn’t open.

Freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith was the star, catching six passes for 103 yards and two touchdowns. TreVeyon Henderson ran for 80 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries.

Ohio State defense (5 leaves)

Tennessee’s best player, running back Dylan Sampson, was hampered by a hamstring injury and no other Vols runners had room to move. The Volunteers was saved by some tricky running by quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who ran for 47 yards on 20 carries.

Sampson carried just twice for 6 yards.

At one point, Ohio State had more points (21) than Tennessee had yards (16).

Ohio State special teams (3 leaves)

There was a fumble of a punt by Caleb Downs and a miss out of his reach by a mile on a 56-yard field goal attempt by Jayden Fielding, but no major mistakes. Not big plays either.

Ohio State coaching (5 magazines)

The offensive staff could not have had a worse game than it did against Michigan. On Saturday, the Buckeyes tore apart a good Tennessee defense.

The key was to get the ball into the playmakers’ hands.

Jim Knowles continued to excel on defense, stopping the Tennessee run and harassing Iamaleava all night.

Fun Quotient (4 leaves)

Tennessee fans made their presence known, bringing what veteran observers say was the largest contingent of road team supporters ever to Ohio Stadium.

Ohio State opened things up on offense and created some excitement that hasn’t been seen enough from the Buckeyes this season.

Tennessee Volunteers (1 sheet)

The Volunteers had their fans, and they bragged all week that they weren’t afraid of the cold.

Then they were dominated. Vols fans will likely say things would have been different with a healthy Sampson, but their team was overmatched from the start.

Officials (1 sheet)

There were too many missed calls for a big game.

The officials missed a pass interference call on Ohio State’s Jordan Hancock in the first quarter.

On Tennessee’s end-zone interception in the second quarter, the officials missed a fairly obvious pass interference when the defender tackled Smith before he could make a catch.

Also in the second quarter, Ohio State’s Kenyatta Jackson was called for calling the ball on third-and-6. The bad call kept alive a Vols drive that led to a field goal.