Nico Iamaleava confirms long held suspicion about the Tennessee Vols' loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes in College Football Playoff
Before the Tennessee Vols took on the Ohio State Buckeyes in the first round of the College Football Playoff last December, the big talking point centered around how UT would handle the extreme cold. The temperature in Columbus was well below freezing during Ohio State’s 42-17 win against the Volunteers. Before the game against the […]
Before the Tennessee Vols took on the Ohio State Buckeyes in the first round of the College Football Playoff last December, the big talking point centered around how UT would handle the extreme cold.
The temperature in Columbus was well below freezing during Ohio State’s 42-17 win against the Volunteers.
Before the game against the Buckeyes, Nico Iamaleava, Tennessee’s starting quarterback in the loss to Ohio State, didn’t seem too worried about the frigid temps.
“It’s just cold weather, we’ll be ready,” said Iamaleava a couple of days before facing the Buckeyes.
“No, I don’t," added Iamaleava when asked if he's thinking about how cold it will be at Ohio State. "I think it is you guys (media and fans that are making a big deal about the cold), but I will be ready to go play in whatever weather we get.”
Last week at Big 10 Media Days, Iamaleava, who is now at UCLA after leaving Tennessee earlier this spring, admitted that the cold weather in Columbus did, in fact, affect the Vols.
“I’m excited to catch those boys again,” said Iamaleava when asked about playing Ohio State in 2025. “It’ll be a big test for me. I know they want to beat me pretty bad again, like they did the first time. So, I'm gonna try and hold my own.
“They said it was like 11 degrees. It felt like four (degrees). It was pretty cold, I’m not gonna lie. I didn't feel my hands in pregame warm-up. It was hard to warm up. But once I got the adrenaline flowing, I thought I did a good job at just getting acclimated with the game…I took some shots. I cracked two helmets in the game, two of my Vicis helmets. And I had to switch to my third one. It was a hard, tough game. I think the weather played a lot of effect in that — just it being so cold. It was a fun game, though.”
“I knew we were going against a tough opponent and we didn't show up how we should have,” added Iamaleava of the Vols’ loss to the Buckeyes. “I took the L to the chin.”
Iamaleava completed 14 of 31 pass attempts for 104 yards in the loss to Ohio State. He also rushed for 47 yards and two touchdowns (which were Tennessee’s only touchdowns in the game).
There’s no doubt that sub-freezing weather is tough to play in. And it was a different kind of cold in Columbus that night. Ohio State, though, was the better team, so the weather wasn’t the reason the Buckeyes won the game. But I think it’s safe to say that the final score wouldn’t have been so lopsided if the game had been played in a warm weather neutral site venue.
Iamaleava, by the way, will get his chance at revenge when UCLA travels to Columbus to play Ohio State on November 15.
