There's a big lesson Tennessee needs to learn from Ohio State player's shockingly honest admission about playoff win against Vols
The Tennessee Vols' 2024 season was a big success, even though it ended on an incredibly sour note. Tennessee reached the College Football Playoff last season for the first time in program history. The Vols' playoff experience, however, was short-lived thanks to a blowout loss in the first round to the Ohio State Buckeyes. One […]
The Tennessee Vols' 2024 season was a big success, even though it ended on an incredibly sour note.
Tennessee reached the College Football Playoff last season for the first time in program history. The Vols' playoff experience, however, was short-lived thanks to a blowout loss in the first round to the Ohio State Buckeyes.
One of the main storylines heading into Tennessee's matchup against Ohio State was the frigid weather that the Volunteers would be forced to deal with in Columbus.
Opposing fans and much of the media made it a point to question if the Vols would be able to handle the cold Ohio weather.
I don't know how much of that noise made it to Tennessee's locker room, but multiple Vols players made the seemingly odd decision to warm up in the sub-freezing temps with no shirts on (it was around 25 degrees at kick off).
Ohio State quarterback Will Howard, who is currently preparing for the 2025 NFL Draft, made some candid comments this week during an episode of “Gruden QB Class” about Tennessee's decision to go shirtless during warmups.
“The thing is, they came out with their shirts off and they ran over to the opposite end zone and they immediately put them back on,” said Howard. “I was like what the f*** are these clowns doing? At the moment, I knew we had them.”
I don't think Tennessee's decision to go shirtless before the game is why the Vols lost to Ohio State — the Buckeyes were clearly the best team in the nation during the College Football Playoff.
But I do think there's a lesson to be learned from Howard's comments.
There was absolutely nothing for Tennessee to gain by going without shirts for warmups. It didn't "intimidate" Ohio State. It didn't prove that the Vols were "tough enough" to withstand the cold. All it did was show that Tennessee likely heard the noise about the cold weather and they subsequently decided to respond to that noise. And that was a mistake. Once a team's focus is pulled away from the ultimate objective — which for UT was beating Ohio State — things likely aren't going to go to plan.
Tennessee wasn't competing against the cold weather, they were competing against the Buckeyes. But they let the outside noise seep into their mindset. And that gave Ohio State an advantage that the Vols couldn't afford to let them have.
Moving forward, that's something that Tennessee can't let happen. Look, I'm a proponent of bulletin board material. I think extra motivation can make all the difference in the world. But that only works if the bulletin board material helps a team stay laser focused on the ultimate objective. And in this case, I think the noise about the cold weather had the opposite effect on the Vols. It's like Tennessee felt like they had to prove to everyone that they weren't bothered by the cold, instead of just keeping their focus on what they needed to execute in order to beat the Buckeyes.
By the way, this isn't shade at Tennessee. This is something that most programs go through from time to time. In fact, Ohio State went through it just a few weeks before the start of the College Football Playoff when they lost to Michigan at home despite being big favorites. A big reason why the Buckeyes lost that game is because Ohio State head coach Ryan Day felt like he needed to prove that his team was the more physical team. As a result, Ohio State relied on a game plan that went away from the Buckeyes' strengths and instead focused on running the ball. Essentially, Day let the outside noise get to him and it took his focus away from utilizing his team's strengths.
Day and the Buckeyes, however, learned their lesson and they leaned on their strengths as they buzzsawed their way through the College Football Playoff.
And that's a lesson that Tennessee needs to learn moving forward, too — stay true to who you are and don't let the outside noise dictate the way you play.
