Ryan Day reveals meaningful words he told Ohio State in the locker room after win over Tennessee in College Football Playoff
Ohio State had a few weeks off after their loss to Michigan and it appears they fixed what they needed to. The Buckeyes rolled the Tennessee Vols out of Columbus by a score of 42-17. The No. 8 Buckeyes started quickly with a first-drive touchdown by way of a 37-yard touchdown to freshman Jeremiah Smith. […]
Ohio State had a few weeks off after their loss to Michigan and it appears they fixed what they needed to. The Buckeyes rolled the Tennessee Vols out of Columbus by a score of 42-17.
The No. 8 Buckeyes started quickly with a first-drive touchdown by way of a 37-yard touchdown to freshman Jeremiah Smith. Ohio State held a 21-10 lead at halftime and took over from there.
Ryan Day badly needed to come out and have his team ready to win. They did just that against a good Vols team and now will get a chance to play No. 1 Oregon.
"To see the way they responded in this game, you could tell from the jump that they had a look in their eye and were gonna win this game,” Day said after the impressive win. “I thought they played that way. A lot of football ahead of us, [that was a] great win. But we're gonna enjoy this for 24 hours, and then it's on to Oregon."
Will Howard was excellent for the Buckeyes by going 24-of-29 passing for 311 yards and two touchdowns. Smith caught two touchdowns and had 103 yards receiving. TreVeyon Henderson had 134 total yards and two touchdowns by the way of 80 yards on the ground.
On defense, Ohio State held Vols QB Nico Iamleava to 14-of-31 passing. The sophomore quarterback ran the ball 20 times for 47 yards and his legs did the most damage until late when Peyton Lewis broke a few big runs late. The No. 9 Vols finished with just 253 total yards to the 473 yards Ohio State had.
The stop coming out of halftime and then really just putting the game away was the most impressive thing about the Buckeyes. Ohio State did what good teams do.
“I'm also proud of the way that they responded. I told them in the locker room that in life, you are gonna be defined by the way you handle adversity as a person, as a man, as a dad.”
It was the win the Ohio State needed to quiet the noise around the program down with. Next up, a big challenge in Oregon sits in front of the Buckeyes. The opportunity there in the Rose Bowl speaks for itself.
