Josh Heupel’s fourth season as Tennessee football’s head coach was undoubtedly a good one with the Vols posting a 10-3 (6-2 SEC) record and earning a birth in the expanded College Football Playoffs.
But the strong season came to a disappointing end when Ohio State dominated Tennessee 42-17 in the first round of the College Football Playoffs. It was the first of four postseason wins for the Buckeyes on their way to winning the National Championship.
Ohio State quarterback Will Howard participated in Jon Gruden’s Quarterback Camp as he prepares for the NFL Draft and the Buckeyes’ quarterback took a shot at Tennessee, particularly its players running out for pregame warmups shirtless, during the interview.
“Here comes the Tennessee Volunteers. It’s a cold night in Columbus and you see these guys come roaring out of here. The SEC. Tennessee Vols without their shirts. It seemed like they were trying to intimidate you guys,” Gruden said.
More From RTI: Tennessee Football Lands Just Outside the Top 10 in Updated Recruiting Rankings
“Oh yeah,” Howard replied. “The funny thing is they came out with their shirts off and ran over to the opposite end zone and immediately put them back on. I’m just like, ‘what the f*** are these clowns doing?’ At that moment, I knew we had them.”
Ohio State made easy work of the Vols, jumping out to a 21-0 lead after scoring touchdowns on its first three possessions. Tennessee showed brief life, outscoring Ohio State 10-0 in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 11 points at halftime before receiving the opening kickoff of the second half.
But Tennessee’s renewed hope was short lived. The Buckeyes put the game away with a pair of third quarter touchdowns and coasted to a 42-17 victory. Howard played one of his best games of the season. Tennessee’s pass rush was unable to exploit what had been a lackluster Ohio State offensive line and Howard completed 24-of-29 passes for 311 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
Ohio State went on to knock off Oregon 41-21 in the Rose Bowl, Texas 28-14 in the Cotton Bowl and then Notre Dame 34-23 to win the program’s first National Championship since 2014.
