Shots fired from out of nowhere? That's what plenty of Tennessee Volunteers fans must be thinking this week after Ohio State quarterback Will Howard sat down with Jon Gruden. The College Football Playoff game against Tennessee was of course brought up.
Hey, we've got to tip our hat to Howard and the Buckeyes, as they dominated that first-round showdown with Tennessee. Ohio State then went on to win the natty. If you ask Howard, however, the Vols posted an L before kickoff even arrived.
That frigid night in Columbus, plenty of Vols playmakers decided to go shirtless during warm-ups to set the tone. Per Howard, it was a bit of a clown move. While speaking with Gruden, he called Tennessee out for that decision, letting an expletive fly to get his point across:
Will Howard had no problems calling out Tennessee players for the shirtless move in the CFP
"The funny thing is they came out with their shirts off and ran over to the opposite end zone and immediately put them back on," Howard told Gruden. "I was like, 'what the fu** are these clowns doing?' At that moment I knew we had them."
Sheesh. As we all know, the Buckeyes took care of business that night, taking down Tennessee 42-17. In that victory for Ohio State, Howard was sensational, throwing the ball all over the field. He finished with 311 passing yards and two touchdowns - both of those TD passes went to freshman phenom Jeremiah Smith.
Nico Iamaleava did everything he could to keep the Vols close, but Ohio State was simply the better team on both sides of the ball. Howard is now off to the NFL, hoping that his draft stock will climb a bit leading up to the draft in late April.
He had a dream one-and-done season with the Buckeyes, helping Ryan Day win the title. As much as we hate to admit it, Howard can talk all the smack he wants, as he and the Buckeyes really took it to the Vols in that game. At the same time, should these two teams meet in the future, Tennessee can look back at this clip for some extra motivation.