New ESPN article shows how one important moment sealed the Tennessee Vols’ fate against Ohio State in the College Football Playoff
The Tennessee Vols had a great year in 2024, but the season ended on a sour note thanks to UT’s 42-17 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the first round of the College Football Playoff. Ohio State was the most talented team in college football last season. The Buckeyes went on to win the […]
The Tennessee Vols had a great year in 2024, but the season ended on a sour note thanks to UT’s 42-17 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the first round of the College Football Playoff.
Ohio State was the most talented team in college football last season. The Buckeyes went on to win the national championship and cruised through most of the playoff. In retrospect, Tennessee’s blowout loss to them was more than understandable.
The loss, however, was still incredibly painful for Vols fans. Going into that matchup, it felt like Tennessee had a real shot to take advantage of a wounded Ohio State team. The Buckeyes looked to be trending in the wrong direction after losing to a not-very-good Michigan team in the regular-season finale. Some analysts even suggested that Ohio State coach Ryan Day could’ve been fired if the Buckeyes had lost to the Volunteers.
With the Buckeyes looking vulnerable, Tennessee fans bought up tickets to the game in Columbus, resulting in a noticeable orange tint in the Horseshoe.
Unfortunately for Tennessee (and Vols fans), Ohio State’s loss to Michigan led to an intense team meeting that galvanized the Buckeyes just in time for the matchup against the Volunteers.
An article from ESPN’s Jake Trotter that dropped this week detailed that meeting.
From ESPN: As the Buckeyes reconvened at the Woody Hayes facility to prepare for Tennessee as the No. 8 seed, the players called a closed-door meeting. They invited Day — no assistants. Sawyer spoke first; Howard, wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, running back TreVeyon Henderson and linebacker Cody Simon followed. Players critiqued the playcalling, the schemes and individual players and coaches. They called out the entire offensive line, which, down starters Josh Simmons and Seth McLaughlin, had gotten dominated by the Wolverines. “Guys are fighting, guys are in tears, Coach Day’s getting challenged, he’s challenging guys. You could’ve cut the intensity with a knife,” Sawyer said. “But it was the most special meeting I’ve ever been a part of.” The first half hour was heated, but eventually, everyone — Day included — took accountability for the Michigan loss. They concluded with prayer and a collective objective — go win it all. “It was a great lesson,” Day said. “When things aren’t right, you’ve got to have honest conversations — even if it’s uncomfortable.”
Ohio State was obviously in a bad place before playing Tennessee. Players were unhappy with the play-calling, guys were getting called out, and Day was being challenged by his own locker room.
If that meeting never happens, I doubt it’s the same Ohio State team that shows up against the Vols. I’m not saying Tennessee would’ve won the game — we have no idea how it would’ve played out — but I’m confident that the final score wouldn’t have been nearly as lopsided in Ohio State’s favor.
That meeting essentially sealed Tennessee’s fate. The Vols had no chance when they took the field that night in Columbus — they just didn’t know it yet.
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