The Ohio State Buckeyes officially know their future. They will be facing off against the Tennessee Volunteers on December 21 in their first matchup of the College Football Playoff.

Beating Tennessee is going to be a difficult task. They’re a talented team on both sides of the football and will give Ohio State a run for their money. However, the Buckeyes have the necessary talent to make a deep run in the playoff.

Ryan Day and company will need to come in and play strong football from the first snap in order to win. They can’t afford to have a slow start, which is something that they have done multiple times throughout the course of the season.

All of that being said, they have officially received a major prediction for their game against the Volunteers.

Joey Kaufman of the Columbus Dispatch has made his prediction for what will happen in this matchup. He has the Buckeyes knocking Tennessee out of the playoff with a 30-24 win.

Here is the reasoning that he gave for his prediction:

“The early feeling here is that the Buckeyes recover from a tough loss to rival Michigan and bounce back for the playoff as they did two years ago with a near upset of Georgia, the eventual national champion, in its backyard. Tennessee is formidable with a fast-paced offensive attack led by Dylan Sampson, the Southeastern Conference’s leading rusher, but it hasn’t been as explosive as Josh Heupel’s more recent teams with a first-year starting quarterback in Nico Iamaleava, a redshirt freshman. Look Jim Knowles’ side of the ball to get enough stops in a tight win for Ohio State.”

Obviously, this is a prediction that Ohio State fans will take. They would prefer the Buckeyes to come out and put together a dominant and convincing performance, but the Volunteers are a good football team.

Taking the win regardless of the final score will do.

Simply pulling out a win after the brutal finish to the season against the Michigan Wolverines would be huge. Ohio State needs to get their confidence back. Of course, if they don’t win, their season will be over.

All of that being said, the game is just under two weeks away. The Buckeyes’ fan base will be waiting on pins and needles for game time to arrive.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Education called on states, districts, and schools to adopt policies around the student use of call phones in school. Ohio is one state that is already well on its way.

The department’s call is one more sign of the growing consensus that smart devices and screens need to be brought under control in the nation’s schools.

Pressure to ban the devices has been building in education circles for years; most teachers can tell a story of a student checked out and unable to separate from their device. Works like Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation have fed the idea that internet connection is at least partly responsible for a growing mental health problem among children.

While students often push back against phone bans, parents can be the real challenge for a school district. For some parents, the power to stay in touch throughout the entire day can be irresistible. For families that are stretching resources (two jobs, three kids, one car), cellphones can be invaluable. And in an age with heightened fear of school shootings and other emergency situations, many parents to do not trust the schools to provide the kind of quick crisis communication that they need.

Several states have some sort of law requiring schools to deal with cell phones in school. Florida, Louisiana, California and South Carolina have outright bans for cell phones. Virginia has an executive order calling for officials to solicit public opinion as a basis for crafting policy. Indiana, Minnesota and Ohio have passed laws requiring schools to develop some sort of policy about student cell phones.

Ohio’s law requires schools to adopt a policy governing cell phone use by July of 2025. The law calls for districts to reduce cell phone-related distractions and limit use as much as possible, while still allowing devices to be used for learning or in connection with student health concerns. However, the Ohio Department of Education, “under the leadership of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor Jon Husted,” encourages districts and schools to adopt a policy to eliminate cell phone use during the school day.

The department conducted a survey of school districts within the state to see how they were progressing in compliance with the law. The results show the degree to which Ohio schools are on the same page when it comes to cell phone policy.

98% of possible respondents replied to the survey— 992 in all (traditional districts, community schools, independent STEM schools, and joint vocational schools).

61% of those districts have adopted formal policies. 31% are drafting a new policy or revising the old one. 5% are ready for adoption. Only 3% have not yet started working on a policy.

Two thirds of respondents implemented their policy last fall with the new school year. 17% will be implementing later this year, and 17% will be launching their policy next fall.

Schools were evenly split between two approaches to reining in cell phones- either banning them during the entire school day or limiting their use to certain windows. In some districts, policy varies by grade.

Policies to limit the appearance of cell phones in the classroom ultimately come down to one factor—whether or not building administration backs up the rules and the teachers who have to enforce them. But in a state that is often a stage for debates over many education policy issues, it’s notable that Ohio schools and leaders seem largely in agreement about responding to cell phones in schools.

The sun was setting as Aaron Bradshaw made his way to the loading dock at Value City Arena. With a bounce in his step and an outwardly genial demeanor, the 7-1, 215-pound center was hardly inconspicuous as an arena security guard waved and smiled.

Ohio State was set to host Evansville in about two hours, and the employee had a half-request, half-demand for Bradshaw: 20 points against the Purple Aces that night.

“Say less,” Bradshaw said, smiling. “I got you.”

That night, the Buckeyes throttled Evansville, claiming an 80-30 win to improve to 3-1 and turn the page on their first loss of the season. It was November 19, and Bradshaw had started all four games while averaging 7.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in an average of 23.4 minutes per appearance.

More on Aaron Bradshaw: Aaron Bradshaw is No. 3 in our Ohio State men’s basketball preseason power rankings

It was also the last appearance for the sophomore for nearly a month. On Nov. 22, Bradshaw was listed as out on the official availability report as the Buckeyes hosted Campbell, with his absence explained in a three-sentence statement released by Ohio State.

“Aaron Bradshaw is not currently participating in team activities,” it read. “The university is following its established process. Due to federal privacy laws, we cannot share further information at this time.”

While he was away, Bradshaw’s biography remained unchanged on the team’s official website and game notes, describing him as “one of the best personalities on the team.” As the Buckeyes updated their in-arena pregame highlight hype videos, no clips were included that featured Bradshaw.

Monday, Ohio State coach Jake Diebler said on his weekly radio show that Bradshaw is back with the team after “the university concluded its process.” No further details have been released on what brought an end to the university suspension into an alleged domestic incident at his off-campus apartment, and Ohio State is not expected to release a statement about his return.

It’s all basketball again for Bradshaw and the Buckeyes, who now welcome back one of their primary offseason additions. Bradshaw’s expected growth from a freshman year at Kentucky where he averaged 4.9 points and 3.3 rebounds while playing 13.7 minutes in 26 games including 10 starts was expected to be a driving force behind Diebler’s first full season at the helm, and now the question is how quickly he can re-assimilate into the regular rotation.

“I don’t anticipate any major, wholesale changes,” Diebler said. “We’ve just got to keep getting better at our foundation and keep building that. At times even I forget all the newness that we have in our program. We’ve got to keep growing. Getting him reacclimated is a part of that growth that we need to do over these next couple of weeks.”

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The first obvious attribute Bradshaw brings to the roster is size. Without him, Ohio State has had to lean heavily on small-ball lineups featuring 6-9, 220-pound sophomore Sean Stewart at center and 6-6, 220-pound sophomore Devin Royal at power forward.

With Bradshaw, Royal averaged 10.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in 22.9 minutes per game. Without him, Royal has averaged 17.0 points and 7.4 rebounds while playing 25:57 per game. Stewart has battled foul trouble and a concussion that cost him a game and a half, but after averaging 3.3 points and 6.0 rebounds in 14.7 minutes with Bradshaw he has averaged 7.3 points and 5.8 rebounds in 19:39 per appearance since.

“Some guys have to play a little bit lower at (their) position, guard the bigs, but that’s life,” Royal said after last Wednesday’s 83-59 loss at Maryland. “You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”

The other primary benefactor from Bradshaw’s absence has been sophomore center Austin Parks. After playing a total of 20 minutes and scoring 3 points with five rebounds last season, the 6-10, 260-pound Parks has totaled 34 minutes in two Big Ten games, scoring 6 points and grabbing seven rebounds while also playing solid defense at times.

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After Saturday’s 80-66 home win against Rutgers, junior Bruce Thornton mentioned Bradshaw after being asked about Parks’ performance.

“It was great, especially not having AB (Bradshaw),” Thornton said. “We still keep in contact and make sure he’s OK physically and mentally. It’s next man up and Austin did a great job today. I’m on him because we needed him and we know what he’s capable of doing. We’re going to keep pushing him and it showed up today.”

Teams routinely lose players for extended periods of time during seasons and are forced to adapt. In Bradshaw’s absence, that meant leaning into smaller lineups and trying to exploit mismatches while at times giving up significant size to Ohio State’s opponents. According to KenPom.com, which ranks teams based on their average height adjusted for minutes played, the Buckeyes are the 238th-biggest team nationally and smallest in the Big Ten.

Now they can get back to adding a little bit more size to the mix with some versatility as well. Bradshaw is expected to contribute not just in the paint but on the perimeter as well, where Diebler said throughout the offseason that they expect him to knock down some shots and be a shooting threat.

“Teams adjust,” Diebler said. “Schemes adjust. There’s not necessarily wholesale changes at this point of the season, but I do think there’s value in the experience some of our other guys have been able to get. It’s helped them grow, certainly. I think for us, there’s some things we missed from a rebounding and size (standpoint), certainly, but schematically we’ve made some adjustments. He’ll need to get caught up.”

That process is underway.

ajardy@dispatch.com

@AdamJardy

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