"This was one of the projections": Ohio State HC Ryan Day discloses his team anticipated facing Tennessee in the playoffs

Ryan Day and his Ohio State team will host a College Football Playoff game in the first round of the new 12-team format. The Buckeyes were seeded No. 8 by the selection committee on Sunday, and they are scheduled to host the No. 9-seeded Tennessee on Dec. 21.

Following the release of the playoff ranking and seeding on Sunday, Ryan Day offered his view on the Buckeyes’ route in the playoff.

“This was one of the projections that we saw,” Day said. “So we’ve been looking at these guys and a couple of other opponents. But we’re fired up. We’re obviously excited about playing the first-ever playoff game in Ohio Stadium.

“Ohio Stadium has been around a long time, over 100 years. There’s been a lot of great games, but never a playoff game like this. And so night game, 8 o’clock, it’s gonna be electric. Our guys are gonna be excited about this.”

The Buckeyes come into the playoff after a 13-10 defeat at home against rivals Michigan in their regular-season finale.

As for the Vols, they bounced back from their loss to the Georgia Bulldogs with back-to-back wins against UTEP (56-0) and Vanderbilt (36-23).

Ryan Day’s view on the draw beyond Tennessee

Ohio State’s major goal at the start of the 2024 college football season is to compete for the national championship. The Buckeyes did quite a lot during the offseason to ensure that goal becomes a possibility, ranging from recruiting, portal acquisition and coaching changes.

With the journey set to start in its real form against Tennessee, Ryan Day gave his view on the entire draw and what Ohio State’s pathway looked like on Sunday afternoon. He recognizes the level of teams that have made it to the playoffs while reinstating his team’s preparedness.

“When you look at a bunch of the teams that are in there, our guys have played some of these teams, whether it was this year or in the past, whatever it might be,” Day said. “So there are guys who have a lot of confidence looking at the draw, saying we know who these teams are.”

“They’re very good, but we also feel confident in who we are, where we are, when we’re playing our best. Now we also have to make adjustments and make corrections and fix the things that need to get fixed coming off the last game. That has to happen.”

Should the Buckeyes defeat the Volunteers in the first-round encounter, they will take on the No. 1-ranked Oregon in the next round. This will be a rematch of the regular season game between the two, which Oregon won 32-31, and Ryan Day’s team will hope to get the better of the undefeated Ducks this time.