Reflecting on the Ohio State loss: A lot has to change on offense, but it starts at wide receiver

A loss happened, but a wake-up call came with it

The takeover of The ‘Shoe happened. The emergence of 30,000 rabid Volunteer fans inside Columbus, Ohio was very real. It, unfortunately, did not matter.

In what ended up being the most lopsided matchup of the entire first round, Ohio State finally lived up to their potential, thoroughly dismantling Tennessee in every facet of the game en route to a 42-17 victory. The result of a defeat here for Tennessee isn’t surprising as they were a touchdown underdog on the road, but how we got to the finish line was quite the shock.

For starters, the severity of Dylan Sampson’s hamstring injury was held under wraps very well by this coaching staff for weeks. It was concealed so well that when he reaggravated it in the first half, he saw just a few more snaps the rest of the night. In spite of this, whether Sampson played his normal workload didn’t even loom that large. His availability simply would not have mattered with the way this game went.

Now to what happened on the field. The facemask on third down by Bryson Eason on Will Howard that extended Ohio State’s opening drive was a premonition of things to come. This defense did well winning at the point of attack early on, but that’s when Ohio State decided to unsheathe its array of weapons through the air, and once they did that, the game was over. From a 21-yard completion to TreVeyon Henderson to Jeremiah Smith’s first long touchdown, the opening drive set the tone right away, and the offense just didn’t have the juice to answer. Ohio State would score touchdowns with ease on each of their first three drives, seeing just two third downs across them.

From the jump offensively, Ohio State’s defensive front flat out dominated every single member of Tennessee’s offensive line at the point of attack. In between Ohio State’s three straight touchdown drives in the first quarter, there were three Tennessee drives that added up to 13 plays for 11 total yards and three punts. Nico was on the run and under duress, and while Sampson was on the field, the ground game was a total non-factor unless it came through Nico. Speaking of the quarterback, Nico Iamaleava was the only skill player who decided to show up in this game. The stat line, namely his passing line, will not reflect that at all, but you just had to watch the game. Nico was running all over Columbus, Ohio, being chased by 300-pounders just to find a receiver that usually never came open. Frankly, without the rushing ability of Iamaleava, this game was possibly a shutout.

At the end of the day, the talent disparity was so glaring, it felt as if a giant forcefield was wrapped around Ohio State’s skill players as Tennessee defenders couldn’t find a way to get within five yards of TreVeyon Henderson, Jeremiah Smith, or Emeka Egbuka when they got the ball in space. Tennessee had no answers for 32 or 4 all game long. Smith, a true freshman who quite possibly is the best player in the country regardless of grade or NFL Draft eligibility, crushed the Vols secondary across the middle of the field and down the sidelines, hauling in six passes for 103 yards with 37-yard and 22-yard touchdowns. Henderson touched the ball 14 times. Six of those touches went for 10 or more yards, and he went untouched past the line of scrimmage on both of his touchdown runs.

Talent plus execution were ultimately the main differences. Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau lived in the Tennessee backfield, both racking up a pair of sacks. Caleb Downs was in total control of the middle of the field. Miles Kitselman had been a major third down weapon for Nico and this offense over the last five or six games, but with Downs and Simon patrolling the middle with Nico constantly being pushed to the sidelines while under pressure, those security blanket looks never developed. Kitselman finished with just one reception for five yards.

This is where I believe changes need to start being made. Tennessee’s wide receivers no-showed against Ohio State. There is no other way to put it. When Ohio State dropped into zone, they weren’t finding openings. Ohio State’s corners are solid but exploitable. Davison Igbinosun led the nation in pass interference penalties, and Denzel Burke was picked on routinely in man coverage. It never mattered. Between Squirrel White, prior to leaving with an injury, Dont’e Thornton, and Chris Brazzell II, those three combined for three catches for 39 yards. Bru McCoy and Braylon Staley were the only Tennessee receivers to even have multiple catches. My biggest gripe with this group was just how poorly they moved with Nico across the field when he was pushed out of the pocket. Any good receiver moves with his quarterback to find openings all the way towards the sideline, making an outlet for a broken play. They didn’t do that at all.

There was a play in the first half where the referees missed a very clear pass interference on Ohio State on a play where Nico was rolled out to his right. Iamaleava targeted Squirrel White, but because Dont’e Thornton was stacked about eight yards directly behind him on the sideline, it drew three Buckeye defenders in proximity to them both to the ball. That’s on the players, sure, but that is absolutely on coaching. It was a bad night to be Tim Banks or Kelsey Pope. Whether or not it should have been a penalty at this point isn’t worth wasting breath on, but the overall play of these receivers was completely unacceptable, and it wasn’t just in this game.

This graphic was posted following the end of the regular season, and it simply confirmed all priors I had with this group. Yes, I do understand the gripes with Nico and his accuracy at times, but people have made a big deal in recent days about Iamaleava’s struggles in big games. Of Nico’s 19 touchdown passes, just nine came in SEC play with four coming against Vanderbilt. This is being attributed to Nico, but I don’t think that’s nuanced or fair. Simply put, there was never any separation between receivers and defenders. The days of Jalin Hyatt and Cedric Tillman feel like a distant memory as of this moment. Game breaking receivers who could help their already good quarterback be great. Right now, it feels as if the receivers at Tennessee’s disposal have brought down some very good play from Iamaleava.

Take the Kentucky game for example. There were three dropped touchdowns in that game alone, and it was just one of two games that Tennessee and Iamaleava passed for more than 200 yards in a conference game. Josh Heupel’s offense has gone from a high-flying, explosive downfield passing attack with a Biletnikoff winning wideout and other receivers taken in the draft to a group of receivers who lack the speed to be explosive and technique to get open, and that falls on Heupel for the lack of recruiting prior to this offseason, but more notably Kelsey Pope for just how poorly developed and coached this group is. This is the first real season of non-transfer multi-year players for Heupel in this receiving corps since he arrived at Tennessee, so let’s look back at some names:

• Kaleb Webb: 4-star | 23 gms, 22 rec, 214 yds, 1 TD | transferred to Maryland 12/18/24
• Squirrel White: 4-star | 38 gms, 131 rec, 1,665 yds, 6 TD
• Chas Nimrod: 3-star | 27 gms, 29 rec, 315 yds, 1 TD | entered portal 12/11/24
• Cameron Miller: 3-star | converted to safety | transferred to Memphis in ‘23
• Bru McCoy: transfer (‘22) | 29 gms, 108 rec, 1,356 yds, 7 TD
• Nathan Leacock: Top 100 | 6 gms, 1 rec, 13 yds | entered portal 12/16/24
• Nate Spillman: 3-star | N/A | entered portal 12/16/24
• Dont’e Thornton: transfer (‘23) | 22 gms, 39 rec, 885 yds, 7 TD

There is not a lot here across the board. The only notable receiver here that was a Heupel recruit is Squirrel, who will likely be back for his senior year in 2025, but a lot of the production from this receiving corps will come from the current freshmen for next season. Heupel did a great job in recruiting top talent in the 2024 recruiting class at wide receiver, but it absolutely has to pay off in a major way in 2025. Chris Brazzell was a major get out of the transfer portal, and outside of the catch against Alabama, his 2024 was quiet. He has to be more of a factor. 2024 five-star Mike Matthews and Braylon Staley, another top 100 recruit from that ‘24 class, have to produce next season at a much higher level than the upperclassmen did this season for this offense to turn back into what it should look like. The throws are there to be had, and Nico is going to make most of them. It’s simply time to find guys who will get open.