Tennessee’s stout defensive line continues to be a big talking point in the media ahead of Saturday’s College Football Playoff game between Tennessee and Ohio State from Columbus.
On Nov. 20, reports came out that Ohio State veteran center Seth McLaughlin would miss the remainder of the season with a torn Achilles, moving one of Ohio State’s best overall players to the bench for the final stretch of the Buckeyes’ season. The injury came before the Buckeyes’ penultimate regular season game against Indiana and finale against Michigan.
Former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer noted McLaughlin’s injury as a major point of concern for the Buckeyes heading into the Tennessee game. While Meyer is still picking the Buckeyes to win, the injury and Ohio State’s subsequent post-injury play lead him to believe Tennessee will cover the 7.5-point spread.
The conversation comes from the latest episode of The Triple Option Podcast with Rob Stone, Urban Meyer, and Mark Ingram.
“I’m going to say a player’s name: Seth McLaughlin. When that bomb went off and they lost their center, that changed the whole world,” Meyer said on the show. “They played their best offensive line play in two years at Penn State (11/2) and it did not look good in the past game against the Wolverines (11/30). So, I think the point spread is right. I’m going to go with the Buckeyes in a low-scoring game.”
Meyer did go on to note the strengths of Tennessee, though, particularly with their defensive front.
“I think the strength of Tennessee is their defense, especially — I watched them yesterday because I wanted to see the SEC D-line, guess what Mark? They’ve got an SEC D-line,” Meyer said. “Big, thick cats that get their feet across the line of scrimmage and that’s not good for Ohio State. So they’ve (OSU) got to get the ball out, it’s going to be cold, it’s going to be 20 degrees – I don’t know about the wind and I don’t think there’s any snow or anything like that. But I think it’s going to be a low-scoring game, I do think Ohio State’s got the best defense in the country so it’ll be a 16-10 type game, I really believe that. I’ve got Ohio State winning but Tennessee covering.”
Former Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram believes that Tennessee will keep it a close game but ultimately is picking Ohio State despite the Buckeyes being “in trouble.”
“Listen, man, Ohio State is in trouble right now,” Ingram said in response. “This is not a good draw for them, man. You talked about that defensive line, that defense, they’re one of the toughest defenses in the country, coach. Getting pressure, stopping the run. Dylan Sampson on offense, running the football. Listen. Can Nico Iamaleava weather the storm in the cold? Can he toss that thing around, not make mistakes, not turn the football over? Can he? I think he can… I’ve got Ohio State but I got Tennessee covering, though.”
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Meyer’s note on Tennessee’s defensive line has been a common talking point around this game this week. Just earlier in the week, FOX analyst Joel Klatt spoke with Colin Cowherd about that very same thing.
“If you look at the games in which [Ohio State] struggled, mainly on the offensive side, you would point to the Nebraska game and you would point to the Michigan game,” Klatt said on The Herd. “And the thing that Nebraska and Michigan had is they were very stout in the interior of their defensive line. That’s the whole deal. And a team that was committed to running the football on the opposite side. Those two teams had terrible offenses and Ohio State survived against Nebraska with a fourth down goal line stand with their defense and didn’t survive against Michigan. So this is not a great matchup for Ohio State, not in the least.”
8-seed Ohio State will host 9-seed Tennessee in the first round of the College Football Playoffs on Saturday night in Columbus, OH. Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for live, on-site coverage of the game as Tennessee looks to punch its ticket to the quarterfinals.
Check out the full conversation on The Triple Option podcast below:
