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Tennessee’s season is over.
The ninth-seeded Volunteers lost to the eighth-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus on Saturday night, 42-17. Tennessee fell into an early 21-0 hole and just never recovered. Injuries played their part, sure, but the Vols have only themselves to blame for their College Football Playoff debut ending in such disappointing fashion.
Orange took over Ohio Stadium in an unprecedented way. Tennessee faithful showed up. And after weeks of hearing about their failures against Michigan, Ohio State showed up. It just took Tennessee too long to arrive.
Here are 3 takeaways from the game.
First-quarter beatdown
Ohio State was unbelievable out of the gates, and Tennessee got caught. Rather than try to pound the ball into the teeth of Tennessee’s defense, Ohio State looked at the single-high looks it continuously got from Tennessee and let Will Howard rip it over the top of the defense.
Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly was uber-aggressive, far more than he was in the Michigan game. Maybe that caught Tennessee off guard. Jeremiah Smith hauled in a 37-yard score a little more than 2 minutes into the game. On Ohio State’s second possession, Emeka Egbuka brought in a 40-yard reception that pushed the Buckeyes back inside the Tennessee 6. (It scored 2 plays later.) And with Tennessee reeling from this unexpected air-it-out attack of the Buckeyes, Ohio State hit on the ground for a 29-yard touchdown to go up 21-0.
Ohio State called dropbacks for Howard on 12 of its first 17 plays. It entered Saturday’s game with a 54% run rate on the season.
And the Tennessee offense didn’t help. Through the first 15 minutes, Tennessee ran 13 plays and gained 16 yards. Nico Iamaleava didn’t complete a pass in the opening quarter (0-for-4) and was sacked twice.
Ohio State had 205 yards of offense on 19 plays. Howard completed 10 of his first 12 passes for 160 yards and a score.
All things considered, it was one of the most dominant quarters of football the Buckeyes have played all season. And it came at the worst time for Tennessee.
The Vols got the margin down to 11 at halftime, but it was all Ohio State in the second half.
Talent gap on full display
Dylan Sampson had 2 carries for 6 yards.
Dont’e Thornton Jr. had 1 catch for 14 yards.
Squirrel White had 1 catch for 17 yards.
All 3 were unavailable to Tennessee for most of the game because of lower-body injuries. Sampson set a record this season for rushing touchdowns. All year, Josh Heupel chose to lean on his ground game in order to insulate Iamaleava as much as possible. With Sampson unavailable, the Vols short-circuited.
They gained just 175 yards of offense through the first 3 quarters. Iamaleava completed 14 of his 31 passes for 104 yards. He led the team in rushing with 20 attempts (a career-high) for 47 yards and 2 scores. Without its No. 1 and No. 3 receivers, Tennessee had no verticality in the pass game. Everything felt like a challenge. And Ohio State just teed off on Iamaleava. The Buckeyes had 4 sacks and 6 tackles for loss.
Take away Ohio State’s No. 1 tailback and it is left with TreVeyon Henderson, who had 10 carries for 80 yards and 2 touchdowns along with 54 receiving yards. Take away Ohio State’s No. 1 and No. 3 receivers and it still has Emeka Egbuka, who caught 5 balls for 81 yards.
The depth within the Ohio State offense is remarkable. Tennessee simply didn’t have the horses with so many key guys out of the lineup. And that’s not an excuse for the way Tennessee performed. The Vols didn’t lose because Sampson carried the ball just twice. But they were certainly hurt by his absence.
Pass rush disappears
Howard had the best game of his season against what many believed would be the best defense he’d see all year. Ohio State’s quarterback completed 10 of his first 12 passes, threw an interception in the second quarter, and then came back to complete 10 straight balls. He missed 5 passes all day, totaled 311 yards through the air, and was never sacked.
He torched the Tennessee secondary.
And the front 7 had the best seats in the house for it.
Howard was pressured just 6 times. Ohio State’s pass protection beat Tennessee’s pass rush. When routes needed time to develop, Howard had all the time in the world. Tennessee was never going to be able to lock down Ohio State’s receivers. Those guys are too talented. The Vols had to hope their pass rush could affect Howard and keep Ohio State off balance. That never materialized. Ohio State dominated on the line of scrimmage.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
