Ohio State quarterback Will Howard knew the Tennessee Volunteers were cooked before they even took a snap against the Buckeyes in their first-round matchup in the College Football Playoff last season.
On paper, it should have been an intriguing game. Ohio State, the eventual national champion, was ranked No. 8 in the CFP at 11-2 and coming off a very disappointing loss to the Michigan Wolverines. Tennessee, on the other hand, was ranked No. 9 at 10-3, but the Vols had won six of their last seven games, including a win over then-No. 7 Alabama.
It looked like a game that should have been competitive, at least, but the Buckeyes came out and blew the Vols out of the water, winning, 42-17. It wasn’t even close. OSU was up, 21-0, by the end of the first quarter.
Recently speaking with former NFL head coach Jon Gruden on the “Gruden’s QB Class” feature that has now been picked up and renewed by Barstool Sports, Howard explained how he knew the Buckeyes were going to crush the Vols.
Gruden brought up a moment before the game when several Volunteers ran out onto the field without their shirts on, presumably trying to prove that they weren’t intimidated to play “up north” in Columbus with the weather checking in below freezing for much of the day.
That was the moment Howard knew OSU had it “in the bag”, according to how he retold the story.
“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,” Howard remembered. “I was like, ‘What the f**k are these clowns doing?’ At that moment, I knew that we had them.”
𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚: Ohio State QB Will Howard talking about Tennessee coming out shirtless for warmups:
“I was like, what the f**k are these clowns doing??”
😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/p1vQhNgfcG
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) April 8, 2025
Howard completed 24-of-29 passes in that game for 311 yards and two touchdowns (one interception). He was also OSU’s second-leading rusher, running five times for 37 yards (7.4 yards per scramble).
He’s now looking ahead to the 2025 NFL Draft, where ESPN ranks him as the sixth-best quarterback on the board.
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