By Marlin Curnutt
Tribune Correspondent
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Where there was a 69制片厂制作传媒淲ill69制片厂制作传媒, there was a way for the Ohio State Buckeyes in their playoff game against Tennessee Saturday night.
OSU quarterback Will Howard torched the Tennessee defense from beginning to end as the Buckeyes squashed the Volunteers 42-17 in front of 102,819 fans at Ohio Stadium. Oregon will be the next opponent for Ohio State as the two teams will meet in the Rose Bowl on New Year69制片厂制作传媒檚 Day.
Howard opened the game 5-of-6 for 124 yards and didn69制片厂制作传媒檛 slow down from there, finishing 24-of-29 for 311 yards and two scores. His favorite target was true freshman Jeremiah Smith who had six receptions for 103 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The ground game was led by Treveyon Henderson who ran 10 times for 80 yards and two touchdowns. OSU won a rare game against an SEC opponent as they finished the contest with 473 yards of total offense.
Just as impressive was the Buckeye defense who held UT to 256 total yards and 6-of-16 on third down attempts. The Ohio State defense had four sacks and nine pass breakups.
Tennessee69制片厂制作传媒檚 high-flying offense was stuck in the mud all night, especially when Dylan Sampson went out early in the game with an injury. Nico Iamaleava battled but struggled as he was 14-of-31 for 104 yards but did score two touchdowns as he rushed 20 times for 47 yards. Peyton Lewis picked up 77 yards on 10 runs and the defense was paced by Jeremiah Telander who had 10 tackles.
Howard and Smith hooked up for a 37-yard touchdown on the first drive of the game as that was a theme that was going to reoccur throughout the contest. Quinshawn Judkins scored on a run from the one and then Henderson added a 29-yard run in the first as the Buckeyes out-gained Tennessee 191 to minus-6 through most of the first quarter.
Things could have been worse for the Big Orange if Will Brooks hadn69制片厂制作传媒檛 picked off Howard in the end zone for a touchback. Tennessee would eventually get three points out of it as Max Gilbert connected on a 36-yarder to make it 21-3.
Tennessee played better in the second quarter, outgaining Ohio State 131-91. It finally found the end zone when Iamaleava plunged in from the one to cap a 16-play drive with 20 seconds left. The Buckeyes had a chance to add to their lead late in the third quarter but missed a 56-yard field goal.
The Vols hoped the momentum they had going to the locker room would carry over into the third quarter but no such luck. They had to punt after six plays and the Buckeyes took the ensuing drive and went down the field where Howard found Smith for the second time in the game- this time from 22 yards. Judkins was in again late in the third quarter with a dive from the one to make it 35-10, Ohio State.
The home team tacked another score on in the fourth quarter as Henderson was into from 24 yards on a run straight up the gut against Tennessee69制片厂制作传媒檚 defense. The final score came with 1:56 remaining as Nico scored on another quarterback keeper and Gilbert kicked through the point after to make it a 42-17 final.
69制片厂制作传媒淭here wasn69制片厂制作传媒檛 a phase in the football game where we operated the way we needed to early,69制片厂制作传媒 Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said of the awful first quarter for his team. 69制片厂制作传媒淲e came back and made a couple of plays at the end of the second quarter to tighten things up but we didn69制片厂制作传媒檛 function well at the beginning of the third quarter and that69制片厂制作传媒檚 a credit to Ohio State but we just didn69制片厂制作传媒檛 do what we needed to on the road against a really good football team.69制片厂制作传媒
69制片厂制作传媒淚 didn69制片厂制作传媒檛 expect to run that many times,69制片厂制作传媒 Iamaleava said. 69制片厂制作传媒淭here were some shots that were there and overall as a team, we didn69制片厂制作传媒檛 execute the game plan. We just have to be better.69制片厂制作传媒
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