Urban Meyer picks Ohio State to beat Tennessee

Ohio State is gearing up for a massive home showdown with Tennessee on Saturday night to cap off the first round of the College Football Playoff. And the No. 8 Buckeyes have the backing of former head coach Urban Meyer, as he picked them to win against the No. 9 Volunteers.

However, Meyer thinks the Volunteers will cover the 7.5-point spread in a low-scoring affair. He explained his thinking on “The Triple Option” podcast.

“So, I think the point spread’s right,” Meyer said. ‘I’m going to go with the Buckeyes with a low-scoring game. I think the strength of Tennessee is there defense, especially — I watched them yesterday, because I wanted to see the SEC D line. Guess what, Mark [Ingram]? They got an SEC D line. Big, thick cats that get their feet across the line of scrimmage and that’s not good for Ohio State. So, they gotta get the ball out.”

His biggest concern for the Buckeyes, as they face that Tennessee defensive front, is the offensive line adjusting to life without center Seth McLaughlin still. McLaughlin suffered a season-ending injury in practice late in the season.

And to Meyer’s point about the Volunteers, Tennessee has 29 sacks as part of 102 tackles for loss in 12 games in 2024. That’s on top of being opportunistic, with 11 interceptions and nine fumble recoveries.

“They played their best offensive line play in two years at Penn State and it did not look good in the last game against the Wolverines,” Meyer said.

Meyer also cited the conditions as effecting the game — not necessarily one team more than the other, though — in calling for a low score.

“It’s going to be cold, it’s going to be 20 degrees. I don’t know the wind and I don’t think there’s any snow or anything like that, but I think it’s going to be a low-scoring game,” Meyer said. “I do think Ohio State’s got the best defense in the country. So it’ll be a 16-10 type game, I really believe that.”