COLUMBUS, Ohio – By the time the brawl ended, most of the thousands of Tennessee fans who streamed into Ohio Stadium were gone.

At least two remained — one in a Peyton Manning jersey and one in a coon-skin hat — hovering above the tunnel as the Vols marched stone-faced into the beginning of the season’s end.

They offered encouragement and a few high-fives in contrast to the mocking “SEC” chant that came from Ohio State’s student section as the Buckeyes celebrated a cherished Rose Bowl berth that eluded Tennessee.

Ohio State 42, Tennessee 17.

The Vols’ 21-0 hole after the first 12 minutes of the game was too deep to escape. Ohio State’s talent as an edge rusher and receiver overwhelmed Tennessee.

Cutting the lead to 11 at halftime offered a brief glimmer of hope until Ohio State forced its first possession of the second half with a punt and then slammed the door shut for good with a 65-yard touchdown drive.

“Everyone was just disappointed,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said.

The offensive line struggled to provide quarterback Nico Iamaleava with clean pockets. Tennessee’s receivers couldn’t find room in the secondary, forcing Iamaleava to hold onto the ball and try to create an offense built from scraps of quarterback scrambles.

The secondary struggled to cover Ohio State’s standout receivers, and even when they did, freshman phenom Jeremiah Smith and NFL-bound senior Emeka Egbuka still made contested catches.

“They made some plays. That will happen against a good team,” said Heupel. “What we haven’t done is come back and find a way to get on the right side. It’s defensive, offensive, it affects everyone.”

Nico Iamaleava on his 20 runs: “I didn’t expect to run so often.”

Josh Heupel said he mixed up some of them.

— David Ubben (@davidubben) December 22, 2024

Injuries, Ohio State’s defense and early struggles forced Tennessee to quickly transform into a team it isn’t.

SEC Offensive Player of the Year Dylan Sampson suffered a hamstring injury late in the regular-season finale against Vanderbilt that aggravated early Saturday. Tennessee knew Sampson would be limited in the game, but he was barely available and couldn’t continue after a brief return in the second half.

He carried the ball at least 19 times in every SEC game this season. He carried the ball twice on Saturday.

Iamaleava hadn’t passed the ball more than a dozen times all season. Between called runs and scrambles, he had to carry the ball 20 times. The Vols’ longest pass play of the day was just 21 yards. Iamaleava finished the season with a season-low 104 passing yards despite throwing the ball 31 times. This is only the third time this season that he has surpassed 30 attempts in a game.

“It sucks to go out like that,” Iamaleava said. “We’re not, man.”

During the regular season, he averaged 8.3 yards per attempt, good for 21st nationally. He averaged 3.3 yards per attempt on Saturday.

“If we don’t produce explosives, whether through bad calls or executions, you end up in a phone booth,” offensive coordinator Joey Halzle said. “We didn’t stretch them enough. We didn’t force them to respect us by walking past them to get them to change their ways. If you let them play relaxed and stick to their game plan and don’t force them to change, that leads to long nights like tonight.”

The defense gave up 311 yards through the air to Will Howard, a quarterback who had just one 300-yard game this season. Tennessee had given up 300 passing yards to Carson Beck and Georgia in just one other game this year.

The Vols lost by 25 in a game in which they won the turnover battle 1-0.

“Her skills on both sides of the ball were as good as you’ll see,” Heupel said.

Defensive coordinator Tim Banks said the Buckeyes’ offense didn’t do much that the Vols weren’t prepared for on film. They simply did well and regularly won 1v1 duels.

A groundbreaking season culminated in the program’s first appearance in the College Football Playoff and arguably the program’s biggest game in at least two decades.

Thousands of Tennessee fans flocked to Ohio Stadium. Instead of another breakthrough, they endured a breakdown on the sport’s biggest stage and a barely competitive game, just like the three first-round games before it.

The only meeting between the Big Ten and SEC teams in Round 1 produced the most lopsided result of the opening weekend of the expanded playoffs, with the Big Ten team’s players strutting around their home field with roses in their teeth.

Tennessee seemed like a good team all season, but losses to Georgia and Ohio State highlighted the reality that the Vols have not yet ascended to the sport’s top tier and are not ready to pursue the kind of titles that have eluded them have been a program since 1998.

Ohio State’s offensive game plan showed aggressiveness and a desire to stretch the field early, making it clear that Tennessee would not be facing the same Buckeyes team that lost a brawl at the line of scrimmage to Michigan three weeks ago.

The Vols faced one of the most talented teams in the country. For 60 minutes, the Buckeyes looked good and played at Tennessee’s expense.

“It hurts to lose like that,” linebacker Will Brooks said.

It was tough for Heupel, who used the word “disappointed” 10 times in his 14 minutes with reporters after the loss. He shook his head several times.

He saw the same thing the thousands of fans in orange saw.

“We are disappointed with our performance for our fans,” said Heupel. “People who were watching us, it wasn’t our best football tonight.”

But it’s football that Tennessee has to think about as it enters an offseason that started earlier than anyone in Orange had hoped. When Heupel addressed his team, he first used that word, acknowledging the disappointment of Tennessee’s first playoff appearance before looking to the future after a streak of 30 wins in three seasons.

“You better let that sink in,” Heupel said, “and it has to propel you to what comes next.”

(Photo by Nico Iamaleava: Saul Young / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)