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College Football Playoff

Saturday, December 21, 2024 | 8 p.m. ET No. 8 Seed Ohio State 42, No. 9 Seed Tennessee 17 Ohio Stadium | Columbus, Ohio
TV: ESPN and ABC
SCORE BY QUARTERS 1st 2nd 3rd 4th FINAL
TENN #9 Tennessee (11-3) 0 10 0 7 17
OSU #8 Ohio State (11-2) 21 0 14 7 42


GAME BOOK


 

VIDEO RECAP


 

2024-25 CFP BRACKET


 

Attendance:
102,819
Kickoff Time:
8:10 p.m. ET
End of Game:
11:38 p.m. ET
Game Duration:
3:27


COLUMBUS, Ohio - Will Howard threw two touchdown passes to freshman Jeremiah Smith and Ohio State routed Tennessee 42-17 on Saturday night in a first-round College Football Playoff game, setting up a New Year's Day rematch with No. 1 Oregon at the Rose Bowl.

Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson rushed for two touchdowns apiece as the Buckeyes (11-2) gave their fans an early Christmas present that should quiet some of the outcry following the devastating fourth straight loss to Michigan three weeks ago.

Howard finished 24 for 29 for 311 yards, his second 300-yard game of the season. Smith had six catches for 103 yards, the sixth freshman to have over 100 receiving yards in a CFP game.

Eighth-seeded Ohio State scored on its first three drives while forcing three straight Tennessee punts. The ninth-seeded Vols (10-3) finally got on the board with a second-quarter field goal and touchdown but couldn't generate anything in the second half until getting a meaningless touchdown late in the game.

Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava was 14 for 31 for 104 yards and rushed a career-high 20 times for 47 more.

The 473 yards gained by Ohio State was the most surrendered by the Tennessee defense all season.

The game time temperature was 25 degrees and dropping in the first college football game played in December in 102-year-old Ohio Stadium.


SCORING SUMMARY

QTR TIME SCORE
(V-H)		 TEAM SCORING PLAY DRIVE
1st 12:46 0-7 Ohio State Jeremiah Smith 37 yd pass from Will Howard (Jayden Fielding kick) 5-75
(02:14)
1st 08:09 0-14 Ohio State Quinshon Judkins 1 yd rush (Jayden Fielding kick) 5-68
(02:39)
1st 03:27 0-21 Ohio State TreVeyon Henderson 29 yd rush (Jayden Fielding kick) 7-58
(03:22)
2nd 06:39 3-21 Tennessee Max Gilbert 36 yd FG 9-62
(03:23)
2nd 00:20 10-21 Tennessee Nico Iamaleava 2 yd rush (Max Gilbert kick) 16-79
(04:03)
3rd 09:16 10-28 Ohio State Jeremiah Smith 22 yd pass from Will Howard (Jayden Fielding kick) 6-65
(3:14)
3rd 01:18 10-35 Ohio State Quinshon Judkins 1 yd rush (Jayden Fielding kick) 9-81
(04:46)
4th 10:53 10-42 Ohio State TreVeyon Henderson 24 yd rush (Jayden Fielding kick) 5-39
(02:26)
4th 01:56 17-42 Tennessee Nico Iamaleava 2 yd rush (Max Gilbert kick) 9-73
(03:19)


TENNESSEE STARTERS

POS. NO. OFFENSE
WR 1 Dont'e Thornton Jr.
WR 3 Squirrel White
WR 5 Bru McCoy
OL 53 Lance Heard
RB 6 Dylan Sampson
OL 63 Cooper Mays
OL 70 Andrej Karic
OL 74 John Campbell Jr.
OL 76 Javontez Spraggins
QB 8 Nico Iamaleava
TE 87 Miles Kitselman
POS. NO. DEFENSE
DB 1 Rickey Gibson III
DB 2 Andre Turrentine
DL 20 Bryson Eason
DL 21 Omari Thomas
LB 22 Jeremiah Telander
DL 27 James Pearce Jr.
DB 3 Jermod McCoy
DB 35 Will Brooks
LB 7 Arion Carter
LB 8 Kalib Perry
DL 90 Dominic Baile

TENNESSEE RESERVES

0 - Wright, William, 10 - Simmons, Elijah, 10 - Matthews, Mike, 12 - Slaughter, John, 13 - Spillman, Edwin, 14 - Staley, Braylon, 14 - Charles, Christian, 15 - Farooq, Edrees, 17 - Brazzell II, Chris, 18 - Weathersby, Tyree, 18 - Bishop, DeSean, 19 - Staes, Holden, 19 - Josephs, Joshua, 23 - Carter, Boo, 25 - Beasley, Kaleb, 27 - Lewis, Peyton, 29 - Ross, Jordan, 31 - Herring, Caleb, 33 - Bolton, Ben, 37 - Bandy, Montrell, 42 - West, Tyre, 47 - Salansky, Matthew, 5 - Harrison, Christian, 51 - Moi, Jaxson, 52 - Purcell, Eli, 53 - Hobbs, Daevin, 55 - Norman-Lott, Omarr, 6 - McMurray, Jalen, 66 - Davis, Dayne, 68 - Warren, Bennett, 75 - Lampley, Jackson, 77 - Johnson III, Larry, 79 - Umarov, Shamurad, 9 - Thomas, Jakobe, 90 - Gilbert, Max, 94 - Turbyville, Josh, 94 - Robinson, Nathan, 97 - Jenkins, Jayson, 98 - Ross, Jackson.

OHIO STATE STARTERS

POS. NO. OFFENSE
RB 1 Quinshon Judkins
QB 18 Will Howard
WR 2 Emeka Egbuka
WR 4 Jeremiah Smith
OL 67 Austin Siereveld
OL 70 Josh Fryar
OL 74 Donovan Jackson
OL 75 Carson Hinzman
OL 77 Tegra Tshabola
TE 88 Gee Scott Jr.
TE 89 Will Kacmarek
POS. NO. DEFENSE
LB 0 Cody Simon
CB 1 Davison Igbinosun
DB 10 Denzel Burke
DB 2 Caleb Downs
DE 33 Jack Sawyer
DL 44 JT Tuimoloau
DL 58 Ty Hamilton
LB 6 Sonny Styles
CB 7 Jordan Hancock
S 8 Lathan Ransom
DL 91 Tyleik Williams

OHIO STATE RESERVES

10 - Julian Sayin, 11 - Brandon Inniss, 11 - C.J. Hicks, 12 - Bryce West, 13 - Bryson Rodgers, 15 - Jelani Thurman, 16 - Keenan Nelson Jr., 17 - Carnell Tate, 17 - Mitchell Melton, 18 - Jaylen McClain, 20 - Arvell Reese, 20 - James Peoples, 23 - Garrett Stover, 24 - Jermaine Matthews Jr., 26 - Payton Pierce, 3 - Lorenzo Styles Jr., 3 - Lincoln Kienholz, 32 - Brenton Jones, 32 - TreVeyon Henderson, 33 - Devin Brown, 38 - Jayden Fielding, 39 - Joey Velazquez, 42 - Joe McGuire, 43 - John Ferlmann, 49 - Patrick Gurd, 5 - Aaron Scott Jr., 5 - Mylan Graham, 51 - Luke Montgomery, 53 - Will Smith Jr., 54 - Toby Wilson, 62 - Joshua Padilla, 68 - George Fitzpatrick, 69 - Ian Moore, 82 - David Adolph, 86 - Max LeBlanc, 9 - Malik Hartford, 92 - Caden Curry, 93 - Hero Kanu, 94 - Jason Moore, 95 - Tywone Malone, 96 - Eddrick Houston, 97 - Kenyatta Jackson Jr., 98 - Kayden McDonald.


 
 
Playoff First Round
 
TEAM STATISTICS TENN OSU
First downs 17 24
Rushing 12 8
Passing 4 14
Penalty 1 2
Rushes-Yards 39-152 33-156
Passing Yards 104 317
Passes Comp-Att-Int 14-31-0 25-31-1
Total Offense
(Plays-Yards)		 70-256 64-473
Punt Returns-Yards 0-0 2- -3
Kickoff Returns-Yards 1-24 1-0
Punts (Number-Avg) 7-40.9 3-39.3
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-0
Sacks By
(Number-Yards)		 0-0 4-35
Penalties-Yards 6-50 3-25
3rd Down Conversions 6-of-16 4-of-9
4th Down Conversions 1-of-2 1-of-1
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: Tennessee - Peyton Lewis, 10-77; Nico Iamaleava, 20-47, 2 TD; DeSean Bishop, 7-22; Dylan Sampson, 2-6.

Ohio State - TreVeyon Henderson, 10-80, 2 TD; Will Howard, 5-37; Quinshon Judkins, 10-34, 2 TD; James Peoples, 7-6; Emeka Egbuka, 1- -1.
Passing: Tennessee - Nico Iamaleava, 14-31-0, 104.

Ohio State - Will Howard, 24-29-1, 311, 2 TD; Devin Brown, 1-1-0, 6; Julian Sayin, 0-1-0.
Receiving: Tennessee -Bru McCoy, 4-40; Peyton Lewis, 3-7; Braylon Staley, 2-11; Squirrel White, 1-17; Dont'e Thornton Jr., 1-14; Chris Brazzell II, 1-8; Miles Kitselman, 1-5; Dylan Sampson, 1-2; DeSean Bishop, 0-0; Mike Matthews, 0-0.

Ohio State - Jeremiah Smith, 6-103, 2 TD; Emeka Egbuka, 5-81; TreVeyon Henderson, 4-54; Gee Scott Jr., 4-39; Quinshon Judkins, 2-9; Carnell Tate, 1-18; Will Kacmarek, 1-7; Brandon Inniss, 1-6; Will Howard, 1-0; Bryson Rodgers, 0-0.
Punting: Tennessee - Jackson Ross, 7-286, 40.9.

Ohio State - Joe McGuire, 3-118, 39.3.
Returns: Tennessee - Punt: None; Kickoff: Peyton Lewis, 1-24; Intercept: Will Brooks, 1-0.

Ohio State - Punt: Caleb Downs, 1- -4; Brandon Inniss, 1-1; Kickoff: TreVeyon Henderson, 1-0; Intercept: None.
Field Goals: Tennessee - Max Gilbert, 1-1 (36 Good).

Ohio State - Jayden Fielding, 0-1 (56 Missed).
Tackles:
(Solo-Assist-Total, Sacks-Yds, TFL-Yds)		 Tennessee - Jeremiah Telander (7-3-10, 0, 1-1); Jermod McCoy (4-1-5, 0, 0); Will Brooks (3-2-5, 0, 1-1); Kalib Perry (2-2-4, 0, 0); James Pearce Jr. (3-0-3, 0, 2-2); Rickey Gibson III (3-0-3, 0, 0); Arion Carter (2-1-3, 0, 0); Boo Carter (1-2-3, 0, 0); Andre Turrentine (2-0-2, 0, 0); Christian Harrison (2-0-2, 0, 0); Omari Thomas (2-0-2, 0, 1-3); Caleb Herring (2-0-2, 0, 1-3); Christian Charles (1-1-2, 0, 0); Tyre West (0-2-2, 0, 0); Ben Bolton (0-2-2, 0, 0); Jakobe Thomas (1-0-1, 0, 0); Dominic Bailey (1-0-1, 0, 1-1); Edwin Spillman (1-0-1, 0, 0); William Wright (1-0-1, 0, 0); Jalen McMurray (1-0-1, 0, 0); Joshua Josephs (0-1-1, 0, 0); Tyree Weathersby (0-1-1, 0, 0); Daevin Hobbs (0-1-1, 0, 0); Nathan Robinson (0-1-1, 0, 0).

Ohio State - Cody Simon (5-7-12, 0, 0); JT Tuimoloau (5-3-8, 2.0-20, 2.5-20); Caleb Downs (4-3-7, 0, 0); Sonny Styles (3-2-5, 0, 0); Lathan Ransom (3-2-5, 0, 1.0-5); Jack Sawyer (1-4-5, 1.5-12, 1.5-12); Ty Hamilton (0-4-4, 0.5-3, 0.5-3); Jaylen McClain (2-1-3, 0, 0); Arvell Reese (1-2-3, 0, 0); Jermaine Matthews Jr. (1-2-3, 0, 0); Tyleik Williams (0-3-3, 0, 0.5-1); Davison Igbinosun (2-0-2, 0, 0); Jordan Hancock (1-1-2, 0, 0); Kenyatta Jackson Jr. (0-2-2, 0, 0); Caden Curry (1-0-1, 0, 0); Malik Hartford (1-0-1, 0, 0); C.J. Hicks (1-0-1, 0, 0); Eddrick Houston (0-1-1, 0, 0); Jason Moore (0-1-1, 0, 0); Mitchell Melton (0-1-1, 0, 0); Tywone Malone (0-1-1, 0, 0); Lorenzo Styles Jr. (0-0-0, 0, 0); Bryce West (0-0-0, 0, 0).