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.