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Watch Tennessee players react to playoff loss

robby: Rob Lewis12/22/24Volquest_Rob
Elijah Simmons
Matt Ray/VOLQUEST.COM

Tennessee got off to a rough start in the College Football Playoff tonight at Ohio State. The Buckeyes got off to a dominant start that left Tennessee in a 21-0 hole before the first quarter was even over.

Tennessee never really found its footing in a 42-17 loss.

Ohio State scored a touchdown on each of its first three possessions while the Vols failed to even muster a first down until their third offensive series.

The Buckeyes racked up an incredible 205 yards of offense in that first quarter while Tennessee managed just 16 yards itself.

The start looked like it was going to be even worse, but Will Brooks intercepted Will Howard in the back of the end zone after Ohio State had reached the Vols’ 20 yard line.

That turnover gave Tennessee some life.

The Vols put together a drive that reached the Ohio State 15 before having to settle for a field goal for their first points of the game to cut the deficit to 21-3.

On the Buckeyes’ next possession Tennessee forced its first punt of the night when James Pearce tackled Emeka Ebuka for a loss on 3rd & 1 from the Ohio State 34 yard line with just over four minutes left in the half.

With Tennessee getting the ball to start the second half, that was a golden opportunity to claw back into the game.

The Vols took advantage, but it wasn’t easy.

Nico Iamaleava led Tennessee on a 16 play 79 yard drive that he capped himself with two yard touchdown run.

With Dylan Sampson limited, Josh Heupel leaned on Iamaleava’s legs hard.

The quarterback carried the ball 20 times in the game for 47 yards and had both of the Vols’ touchdowns.

On that second quarter touchdown drive Iamaleava carried six times for 17 yards on the drive and DeSean Bishop converted a 4th & 1 with an 8-yard run from the Ohio State 35 yard line.

With the deficit down to 21-10 and Tennessee getting the ball to start the second half, the Vols had some life.

But Tennessee did nothing on its opening possession of the third quarter and Ohio State made a statement by scoring two third quarter touchdowns to go up 35-10.

It was demoralizing loss for Tennessee. Ohio State dominated every facet of the contest.

The Buckeyes out-gained Tennessee 473 yards to 256 yards on the night. The discrepancy was more lopsided than that before Ohio State started pulling starters up 42-10 in the fourth quarter.

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