Tennessee

Ohio State vs. Tennessee: Predictions, odds for College Football Playoff first round

Published

2 years ago

December 18, 2024

Ohio State vs. Tennessee: Predictions, odds for College Football Playoff first round

In one of four College Football Playoff first-round games, the Tennessee Volunteers will travel to Columbus, Ohio to face the Ohio State Buckeyes for a Saturday night SEC vs. Big Ten matchup.

Despite a challenging season, Ohio State secured the No. 8 seed in the playoffs despite suffering a 13-10 loss to Michigan in its final game of the regular-season. Ohio State quarterback Will Howard struggled to move the Buckeyes’ offense, finishing with a completion rate of 57.6%, one touchdown and two interceptions. Following the game, tensions escalated, resulting in fights breaking out on both sides.

Tennessee, which secured the No. 9 seed, is a formidable opponent. The Volunteers ended their season with a 36-23 victory over in-state rival Vanderbilt. Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava had a standout performance, completing 18 of 26 passes for 257 yards and four touchdowns.

But, the playoffs are a new beast and provide a reset for both teams as they set their sights on playing for a national championship in January. The first test comes this weekend as the Buckeyes and Volunteers battle in the first round.

CFP first-round predictions: Ohio State vs. Tennessee

USA Today: No. 8 Ohio State over No. 9 Tennessee

Paul Myerberg writes: “This is the premier pairing of the opening round and a nice barometer of how playoff games could unfold between the best of the best in the Big Ten and SEC. Given two evenly matched teams with similar traits, two factors will make the difference in Ohio State’s favor: homefield advantage and a more credible offense. Buckeyes quarterback Will Howard has more experience and better skill options. But another big game from Volunteers signal caller Nico Iamaleava could easily shift this game in the opposite direction.”

ESPN: Ohio State has 65% chance to win

According to ESPN’s Matchup Predictor, the Ohio State Buckeyes have a 65.5% chance to beat the Tennessee Volunteers in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

College Football Network: Ohio State 27, Tennessee 23

Will Helms writes: “To be clear, I think Ohio State’s offense is capable of moving the ball down the field through the air, but Tennessee’s defensive line could feast against a reshuffled Buckeyes O-line. But I also trust Kelly to find ways to scheme open elite playmakers like Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka. If this becomes a close game, Ohio State’s experience can make a difference. However, I like the Volunteers as one of the best bets of the opening round. The Buckeyes’ experience and depth should help them close this out, but take the Volunteers to cover in a close one that ticks over.”

Sports Illustrated: Tennessee Volunteers

James Parks writes: “Tennessee +7.5 … We’re taking the Vols to win straight-up on the road given their outright advantage on a very dominant defensive front, which should overpower a Buckeyes offensive line down two key starters to injury, while Dylan Sampson and Tennessee’s gifted ground game do the rest.”

CFP first-round odds, lines: Ohio State vs. Tennessee

The Ohio State Buckeyes are favorites to defeat the Tennessee Volunteers, according to the BetMGM college football odds.

Odds as of Wednesday, Dec. 18.

Spread: Ohio State (-7.5)
Moneylines: Ohio State (-300); Tennessee (+240)
Over/under: 46.5

How to watch Ohio State vs. Tennessee in CFP first round

Date: Saturday, Dec. 21
Time: 8 p.m. ET
TV: ABC/ESPN
Stream: ESPN+ and Fubo
Where: Ohio Stadium (Columbus, OH)

Catch CFP games with a Fubo subscription

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Tennessee

Tennessee baseball adds pitcher Ricky Ojeda, UC Irvine transfer

Published

8 hours ago

June 20, 2026

Press Room

Tennessee baseball adds pitcher Ricky Ojeda, UC Irvine transfer

Tennessee baseball received a commitment from UC Irvine pitcher Ricky Ojeda on June 19.

Ojeda, who is eligible for the MLB draft in July, announced his decision on social media. He visited Tennessee on June 15-16.

The lefthanded Ojeda had a strong 2026 season primarily as a reliever, posting a 3.77 ERA with 62 strikeouts and 20 walks in 62 innings. In 2025, he became the first reliever to be named Big West Pitcher of the Year after going 13-1 with a 3.55 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 66 innings, which also earned him a third-team all-American nod from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and Perfect Game.

Whether Ojeda makes it to Tennessee remains an open question. Perfect Game ranked him as the No. 179 prospect for the draft. That would place him in the sixth round.

Should Ojeda join the staff, however, he would instantly become one of the team’s top options out of a bullpen that struggled immensely in 2026. The pitching staff is also under new leadership under pitching coach Austin Knight, who was hired from ECU.

Ojeda is the fourth player to announce they will transfer to Tennessee this offseason, joining two-way Mercer transfer Braydon Kersey, Northwestern State pitcher Brody Trosclair and Air Force infielder Wyatt Hanoian.

Who’s leaving Tennessee baseball

UTL Jay Abernathy (Oklahoma)
RHP Nic Abraham
INF Ariel Antigua (Arizona)
INF Finley Bates
RHP Ari Bethea
OF Hutson Chance
RHP Sawyer Deering (San Diego State)
OF Nate Eisfelder
1B Evan Hankins (Virginia Tech)
UTL Hunter High
RHP Brayden Krenzel (Arkansas)
INF Manny Marin
INF Ethan Moore (Missouri)
UTL Chris Newstrom
LHP Taylor Tracey
C Cash Williams (West Virginia)

Who’s joining Tennessee baseball

RHP/DH Braydon Kersey
LHP Brody Trosclair
INF Wyatt Hanoian
LHP Ricky Ojeda

Emmett Siegel covers Tennessee baseball for Knox News. Email: emmett.siegel@knoxnews.com; X: @EmmettSiegel_

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Tennessee

Shooting Hunger event aims to prevent childhood hunger in West Tennessee

Published

18 hours ago

June 19, 2026

Press Room

Shooting Hunger event aims to prevent childhood hunger in West Tennessee

JACKSON, Tenn. (WBBJ) – An exciting day of sporting clays in West Tennessee is doubling as a major fight against hunger.

Today’s “Shooting Hunger” event took place at the Carroll County Shooting Sports Park in Huntingdon. It’s a partnership between Tennessee Farm Bureau, Tennessee Farmers Co-Op, Farm Credit Mid-America and Rural First.

Shooting Hunger at Carroll County Shooting Sports Park(Gray News)

Since 2015, Shooting Hunger has helped provide more than three million meals to Tennesseans with money going to food banks, backpack programs, and local hunger relief. A $500 scholarship will also go to the top youth shooter in each flight.

“We’re joining together to raise money for school backpacks to feed hungry kids. We do these, we actually do three of these across the state of Tennessee so at the end of the day we take, we take all the money we put it into a pile and when we divide equally amongst all 95 counties across the state of Tennessee,“ said Bryan Wright, executive vice president for the Tennessee Farm Bureau.

Organizers say events like this matter because one in six children in Tennessee struggle with hunger.

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Inside Tennessee 4×100 relay’s NCAA title, outlasting four botched exchanges

Published

1 day ago

June 19, 2026

Press Room

Inside Tennessee 4×100 relay’s NCAA title, outlasting four botched exchanges

Tennessee director of track and field Duane Ross gauged the hunger of the men’s 4×100-meter relay team to pull off the upset.

“They said, ‘Coach, we’re going to win,’ ” Ross said. “When they bring you that much confidence, you can grab your popcorn and enjoy the meet.”

No popcorn was consumed, but the appetite was there from the start.

Traunard Folson, Davonte Howell, T’Mars McCallum and Elijah Clark finished in a school record time of 37.98 seconds at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on June 12 in Eugene, Oregon. It was the the program’s first national title in the 4×100 since 1983 and the fourth-fastest in NCAA history.

Four other relay teams never crossed the line. Auburn, the two-time defending champion, had run an NCAA-record 37.75 in the semifinal, but had a botched handoff on the last exchange. Arkansas, the reigning SEC champion, also dropped its baton, along with Oregon and Houston.

McCallum said staying clean through a race of chaos starts with a focus on winning, even in practice.

“In the moment we can’t really worry about anything else, just what we can control,” McCallum said on June 18. “We came to practice every time with the idea of, ‘OK, we’ve got to make sure this is fixed, because we know if we run that time, we can win.’ “

It was the final event of McCallum’s college career. It didn’t fully hit until the long flight home to Knoxville.

“I was like, we really did it,” he said. “Now we have a school record, the first team to ever go under 38 seconds here.”

Whether belief had anything to do with what went wrong in those four other lanes isn’t something Tennessee’s runners can answer. It’s exactly what they point to for why theirs didn’t.

Clark, a freshman who ran the anchor leg, said winning was just a matter of starting the race.

“We knew we had it the whole time,” he said. “No matter who did what, what happened, we knew what the outcome would come to.”

Ross said the victory wasn’t a surprise inside the program either.

“I wouldn’t say unsung,” Ross said. “I’ve watched this team all year long, and we were expecting to come out of there with the championship. It was a tight competition down to the last event.”

Tennessee finished third in the men’s team standings with 46 points, its best total since 2002.

Howell, a junior who ran the second leg, said the belief behind the relay team’s confidence was built long before the race.

“Three of the four of us already ran under 10 seconds,” he said. “Last year we all trained together during the summer, all lived together. We already had the bond, and adding the freshman on anchor was just a cherry on top. He figured it out at SECs, ran a 10.1, season’s best, and we trusted him to bring it home.”

Clark said the title is already part of something bigger to him.

“The goal is to always make history,” said Clark, who was hired by Tennessee four years ago after a successful run at North Carolina A&T. “It’s been one of my dreams. To be able to be on the wall, especially at a school like this, I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

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