Tennessee Expecting Physical Ohio State Offense

To hear Tennessee defenders tell it, the Ohio State offense is one that will pound the ball on the ground — and do it effectively.

Except that’s not actually been the case for the Buckeyes in their last two games of the regular season, at least in terms of success.

In Ohio State’s 38-15 win over Indiana, the Buckeyes ran for 115 yards on 29 carries (4.0 ypc). In their 13-10 loss to Michigan, the numbers fell to 77 yards rushing on 26 attempts (3.0 ypc).

When 9-seed Tennessee and 8-seed Ohio State get together Saturday night in Ohio Stadium in the final first-round game of this year’s College Football Playoff, the line of scrimmage will be up for grabs on every play. The team that wins most of those battles will likely win the game, but that’s only the starting point.

“It’s very critical. You have to win the line of scrimmage,” said Tennessee defensive tackle Omari Thomas. “You have to win your one-on-ones all over the field. On the line of scrimmage and outside on the perimeter. Ohio State is a great team. They have players all over the field. Weapons all over the field. Good offensive line. Good running backs, quarterback, receivers. They’re definitely a stacked team with elite players. We just have to be on our A game and win our one-on-ones so that we can win the battle.”

The one-on-one battles will be key, but it won’t be anything new for the Vols. They’ve been involved with the likes of Georgia and Alabama, splitting those two games. The Bulldogs defeated Tennessee 31-17 in Athens, while the Vols topped the Tide 24-17 in Knoxville eight weeks ago.

Is there anything about those two teams — or anybody else on Tennessee’s schedule — that bare some similarities to the Ohio State offense?

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that,” Thomas said. “They kind of do their own thing. They’re Ohio State. They’re gonna do what they do. They don’t care if you know or not, they’re gonna try to run the ball. They’re gonna try to be more physical than you. So we just have to know that’s what it is. That’s the battle. It’s set. We just have to be ready.”

Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly has almost always had an effective running game. The Buckeyes are currently fourth in the Big Ten in yards per carry (5.0) and sixth in rushing yards per game (169.2). Those numbers are way up from last year, but still well below every other offense OSU head coach Ryan Day has had with the Buckeyes.

Former Buckeye and current starting Vols safety Andre Turrentine transferred from Ohio State after his true freshman season in 2021. There have been plenty of changes in Columbus since he was there last, but not everything is unfamiliar to him.

“With the new OC that they have, they’ve changed their plays some, but Ohio State, they have a calling card of what they like to do, and they like to do the same things from when we were kids,” Turrentine said when asked if the offense is still familiar to him. “Ohio State’s gonna be Ohio State. Yeah, I’ve seen plays that I’ve seen before, and I’ve seen plays that I know are new, but they’re still the same play at the end of the day.”

Ohio State wants to be able to run the ball, so they’ll keep trying.

Eventually, however, if it’s not working, it might be time to try something else.