It’s easy to forget just how much doubt and turmoil the Ohio State Buckeyes were facing when they squared off with the Tennessee Volunteers before their first round College Football Playoff matchup. But after winning a national championship, now all quarterback Will Howard can do is laugh about Tennessee’s attempt at intimidation.
Ohio State was coming off their fourth consecutive loss to Michigan and Ryan Day was firmly on the hot seat. With Tennessee from the big, bad SEC coming north, there was a firm thought that the Buckeyes could be one and done, even with homefield advantage. Volunteers fans were even making noise about taking over the Horseshoe and turning it into “Neyland North.” That bravado continued when Tennessee players took the field in the frigid conditions for warm-ups without their shirts on.
As fate would have it, that was the high point of Tennessee’s playoff run. The Buckeyes blitzed the Vols with 21-0 in the first quarter and blew them out in a 42-17 victory. It was the first step in an unprecedented four game run to a national championship in the newly expanded 12-team playoff.
Will Howard is now focused on prepping for the NFL Draft and was the first guest with Jon Gruden for his revamped QB Class at Barstool Sports. And as the former NFL head coach brought up the stunt by the Vols, Howard did not hold back his true feelings.
“It’s a cold night in Columbus. And you see these guys come roaring out of here, the SEC, Tennessee Vols without their shirts? And it seemed like they were trying to intimidate you guys,” Gruden said.”
“The funny thing is they came out with their shirts off and they ran over to the opposite endzone and immediately put them back on. I was like ‘what the f— are these clowns doing, man? At that moment I knew we had them,” Howard declared.
If only Ohio State fans would have known how much confidence the players had in that moment. Will Howard went from being merely a “hired gun” to a Buckeyes legend over the course of the college football playoff. And if Pat McAfee has his way, he will probably be a Hall of Famer in the NFL too.