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Chris Low, ESPN Senior Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Tennessee fan base showed up in force Saturday night in the first round of the College Football Playoff, with orange splattered throughout Ohio Stadium.
Unfortunately for the Vols, that energy and passion didn’t translate to the field. They were outclassed in every facet in a 42-17 blowout loss to Ohio State, Tennessee’s 22nd straight loss to a top-10 team on the road.
“We’ve been putting in work since January to get to this point, and it sucks to go out that way because that’s not who we are, man,” Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava said. “I love this team. I love the team we have. And the way tonight went was not the way we wanted it to go, and we’ll use that as motivation in the offseason.”
Several longtime Buckeyes observers said Saturday marked the most fans from an opposing team they’ve ever seen in Ohio Stadium. The Tennessee fans, estimated in the 30,000 range, showed up early, started partying early and were hungry for what was the school’s first postseason appearance (playoff or BCS national championship game) since the Vols’ 1998 national title campaign.
But the Vols (10-3) were no match for a Buckeyes’ team that built a 21-0 first-quarter lead, dominated the line of scrimmage and scored the most points Tennessee had allowed since a 63-38 loss to South Carolina in 2022. At the end of the first quarter, Ohio State had outgained Tennessee 205 yards to 16 yards, and Iamaleava had yet to complete a pass. Tennessee pulled within 21-10 at the half, but Ohio State widened the gap to 42-10 before the Vols scored their final touchdown in the final two minutes.
“I think they thought they were going to take over this place, and we showed them pretty quick that we weren’t going to let that happen,” Ohio State quarterback Will Howard said. “And I think, obviously, us jumping out to a pretty quick start helped with that. But I’ve got to give credit to Buckeye Nation for showing up and being loud.”
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel called the turnout of the Vols’ fans “special” and apologized that it wasn’t a better outcome.
“I’m disappointed for them, disappointed for our team, and everything we put into it since last January, that we didn’t coach and play better in this one early,” Heupel said. “There wasn’t a phase of the football game where we operated the way we needed to early in the game. We came back and made a couple plays at the end of the second quarter to tighten it up, and just didn’t function well enough to get into the third quarter, either. That’s a credit to them. But we just didn’t do what you have to on the road again against a really good football team.”
Iamaleava said it was disheartening not to be able to reward the fans who made the trip.
“It sucks the performance we gave them. I hope they get home safe, man,” Iamaleava said. “I really appreciate the support.”
Tennessee’s passing game was nonexistent for much of the game, and the Vols couldn’t generate any big plays down the field, whether it was Iamaleava being harassed by the Ohio State pass rush or his receivers simply not creating separation and getting open.
Injuries also hampered Tennessee. Leading rusher Dylan Sampson, the SEC’s offensive player of the year, was suffering from a hamstring injury that occurred in the regular-season finale against Vanderbilt on Nov. 30. He carried the ball just twice for 6 yards.
“He’s been out the first couple of weeks, got back with us and started building through the week,” Heupel said of Sampson. “We felt like he was in a good spot and anticipated him not having the same type of load that he normally would have, but early in the game he kind of retweaked it and wasn’t available there for a while.”
Wide receivers Dont’e Thornton Jr. and Squirrel White also left the game with injuries after having battled physical setbacks for much of the season.
“At the end of the day, man, whoever’s out there, whether it’s a freshman or not, we’ve got to be able to execute the same way with those guys or not, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” said Iamaleava, who finished 14-of-31 for 104 yards and no touchdowns and was sacked four times.
With the passing game so ineffective, the Vols used Iamaleava in the running game more than they have all season. He had 20 carries, several of them scrambles, and finished with 47 yards.
“We’re the ones out there on the field playing and we’ve just got to hold ourselves to a higher standard and execute at a higher level,” Iamaleava said.
Heupel, who wrapped up his fourth season at Tennessee, has guided the Vols to at least nine wins each of the past three seasons with wins over rivals Alabama and Florida in two of the past three years and an Orange Bowl victory over Clemson two years ago. But there’s also a next step, especially in these types of games where the stakes are the highest.
“Well, you’ve got to play better. You’ve got to coach better,” Heupel said. “Ohio State’s a good football team, and tonight wasn’t one of our best performances this year and so at the end of the day you’ve got to continue to grow. We’ll start again and start retooling and rebuilding and grow as a football team. Two years ago, we finished sixth in the country.
“There’s a standard inside of our building and we’re going to continue to grow.”