Ohio State Game Preview

College Football Playoff First Round

Well, Vol fans have taken getting shafted out of hosting a playoff game in stride. By all accounts at least 20,000, probably more, Vol fans will be making the relatively short drive to Columbus to watch the Vols take on the Ohio State Buckeyes at historic Ohio Stadium. Better known as the Horseshoe, or simply The Shoe. Ohio State prides itself as one of the blue bloods of the sport and they certainly are. And the Horseshoe, even though it looks more like a fish or a toilet seat, is one of the palaces of college football. Yet the playing field is that rubbery looking field turf. But I digress.

Ohio State fans are approaching this game by either overlooking Tennessee and focusing on the Rose Bowl, or they are hoping Tennessee puts the final nail in Ryan Day's coffin. The one's that do want Ohio State to win have been constantly bringing up the cold weather that's expected. The temperature is expected to be 24 at kickoff and 21 by the end of the game. Quite frigid to be sure. What these Ohio State fans don't realize is that it gets pretty cold in Knoxville too. It will only be 4 or 5 degrees warmer here at game time. But to hear them tell it, the game might as well be played in Yakutsk, Russia. For those who don't know, that is on average the coldest mid sized city on the planet. It's currently -23. On Saturday the high will be -26 and the low will be -30.

All of that aside, the cold weather will play into the Vols favor more than Ohio State. Tennessee is a team with a great defense and a great rushing offense. Ohio State is a passing team with 3 really good receivers and an average quarterback. Ohio State has a great defense too, but a lot of their stats are padded by beating up on their cupcake conference.

I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the only previous meeting in the series. And the circumstances of that meeting were eerily similar to this one. Ohio State had a great year that year. They had been really good in the years leading up to that game as well. But they couldn't beat Michigan. Sound familiar? So they came into the Citrus Bowl licking their wounds. They did have a great running back in Eddie George who had just won the Heisman. They also had a great offensive lineman named Orlando Pace, future Nashville Oiler coach Mike Vrabel, excellent corner Shawn Springs, current Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell, and a great receiver named Terry Glenn.

Tennessee on the other hand had been pretty good in the years leading up the that game, although they hadn't quite reached elite status yet. They were led but a very talented young quarterback and a lot of young talent that had been building for a few years. Again, sound familiar.

Tennessee and Ohio State went into that game both ranked 4th in a rare tie in the rankings. I can't find the point spread but I know Ohio State was favored. The weather was a factor in this game as well. There was a torrential downpour for a big chunk of the game. The Vols gritted out a 20-14 win on the legs of Jay Graham and a great performance by the defense. Perhaps the most famous moment of that game came when Ohio State had the ball on the one yard line. The Vols defense came up with a brilliant goal line stand as they stuffed Eddie George.

This win changed the way Tennessee was perceived nationally. You have to understand, at that time Big Ten bias was every bit as bad as "SEC bias" is today. The SEC was seen as maybe a slight step above where the ACC or Big 12 are today. The Vols would finish 2nd in the coaches poll and 3rd in the AP Poll. They would begin 1996 ranked 2nd and would spend most of the rest of the decade in the top 5.

This is the kind of perception boost Tennessee could enjoy with a win in Columbus on Saturday night. Not to mention the Vols' first trip to the Rose Bowl since 1945. But lets not get ahead of ourselves just yet.

Tennessee's offense will need a great rushing performance, but they've pretty much got that all year. Nico will need to make good decisions and hit some passes when called upon. Some yards on the ground by Nico would go a long way as well. Just be smart about it. This could potentially be a big game for Miles Kitselman. Especially if Ohio State tries to play with high safeties. Josh Heupel has had three weeks to come up with some new wrinkles and he's had two weeks to look for holes in Ohio State's defense. I trust Heupel to have a good game plan that will help the Vols get off to a good start.

Ohio State has a lot of injuries along their offensive line as well as a few tight ends who are questionable for the game. To me this seems like a very good opportunity for Tennessee's defensive line to control the game. Ryan Day and Chip Kelly are really good offensive minds but Tennessee's defensive line is one of the best in the country. If Will Howard doesn't have time to throw I have a hard time seeing them being able to move the ball with any consistency. I don't think their running game will be able to sustain anything if they can't pass. It all comes down to how much pressure the Vols can put on Howard.

I think the defense stands tall and the Vols get enough balance for Dylan Sampson to have a nice day.

Tennessee (+7.5) 23

Ohio State 17

The rest of first round...

Notre Dame 28

Indiana (+7.5) 24

Penn State (-8.5) 34

SMU 21

Texas 27

Clemson (+11.5) 23

Last time 2-4(3-3 ATS) Overall Record 40-24(30-34 ATS)

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That's all I have for now. As always I appreciate everyone who took the time to read this. Here's to hoping for a Rose Bowl preview!

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone and stay safe. Go Vols and God Bless!