Ohio State Edges Tennessee
Ohio State Edges Tennessee
Ohio State defeated Tennessee in a preseason non-conference game 12-10 Saturday.
In what was clearly a tight contest both sides had scoring chances and both sides saw them squandered by handling errors and mistakes. Well-executed tactical kicking helped the Buckeyes keep Tennessee pinned back ...
It had rained in the morning and that probably didn't help the ballhandlling. Ohio State certainly wanted to see what the damp would do and launched several kicks to test the Volunteers. A long kick from Harry Colbert and a good chase from Connor Fairfield forced a knock-on by Tennessee and Ohio State was able to pressure from a scrum. Tennessee were penalized at the scrum, the Buckeyes took a lineout, mauled it, and finally lock Luke Misleh powered over for the first try of the day. Colbert converted and Ohio State led 78-0.
The Vols answered from a lineout inside the OSU 22 to maul over for their first try—captain and hooker Greg Giangulio doing the honors. The kick was not successful, however, and Ohio State led 7-5.
That was it for the first half in a defensive battle.
Ohio State capitalized on Tennessee’s mistakes off the second half kickoff to claim possession. Vince Carso gained possession and OSU's skilled backs set up Taylor Gleeson for the try just at the start of the second period.
Up 12-5 Ohio State looked to press their advantage but found themselves on defense for a large chunk of the second 40. Tennessee's situational kicking improved and gave them better field position, and eventually, after several phases through the forwards, that resulted in a try for flanker Roman Funkhouser.
And that was it, 12-10.
Ohio State closed out the match by pinning Tennessee deep in their own end on the ensuing restart, and Tennessee's ball-handling woes continued and they could put things together to get out of trouble. Neither side coated itself in glory in terms of finishing chances, but they defended well and showed a good understanding of the need for good field position.
Prop Brendan Bibb was Tennessee's Forwards of the Match and he said: “I feel like we did an amazing job on defense; we definitely made strides as a team in that area. The attack showed some ups and downs today, but all the mistakes are fixable so I feel confident that we will be a good side in the span of a few weeks. It seemed we really came together as a team today and I am excited for what the rest of the season holds for us, as I believe we can compete with anyone.”
Ohio State 12
Tries: Misleh, Gleeson
Convs: Colbert
Tennessee 10
Tries: Giangulio, Funkhouse
Next up for Tennessee will be Kennesaw State on October 1. Ohio State, meanwhile, takes on Illinois next week.
