The kickoff time and broadcast details are set for Tennessee football’s College Football Playoff opening game at Ohio State. Tennessee and Ohio State will face off at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, Dec. 21. ABC and ESPN are broadcasting the game.
There’s four first round College Football Playoff games with three being on Saturday, Dec. 21 and the other being on Friday, Dec. 20. ESPN has the broadcast rights for two of the games while TNT has the broadcast rights for the other two games.
Indiana at Notre Dame kicks off at 8 p.m. ET on Friday night on ABC and ESPN. SMU at Penn State kicks off at noon ET on Saturday on TNT then Clemson at Texas kicks off at 4 p.m. ET on TNT.
Tennessee football landed as the No. 9 seed in the inaugural 12-team CFP after posting a 10-2 (6-2 SEC) record during the regular season. The Vols earned one marquee win over Alabama while also beating NC State and Oklahoma, who were ranked at the time of the matchup, as well as rival Florida who played much better the back half of the regular season.
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That was good enough for Tennessee to easily make the expanded the playoffs, but it wasn’t enough for them to get a home game. The Vols dropped games at Arkansas and Georgia. Tennessee’s loss in Fayetteville was the one that truly cost them and kept them from a higher seed.
Ohio State entered the season with massive expectations and as the preseason No. 1 team in the country. The Buckeyes suffered a set back at Oregon in early October but rebounded with top 10 home wins over Penn State and Indiana.
The Buckeyes were a win away from a rematch with Oregon in the Big 10 Championship game before suffering a shocking and humiliating defeat at home against Michigan in its regular season finale. That made Ohio State’s resume very similar to Tennessee but the extra top 15 win gave the Buckeyes the home game over Tennessee.
The pressure will be on Ohio State in the matchup with its sky high expectations entering the season and a rivalry loss its last time out.
