An early prediction of the Ohio State football team's CFP matchup vs. Tennessee

The Ohio State football program has an opponent in the College Football Playoff. Ohio State will take on Tennessee in the Shoe under the lights. That game will be the primetime Saturday night game, taking place on December 21st at 8 pm on ABC and ESPN.

This will be the latest in the season that the Buckeyes have hosted a night game at home. The weather advantage won't be as big as it could have been. Tennessee does have to play some cold games at home as one of the furthest north teams in the SEC.

This is a juicy matchup that has two teams who are very close in talent. We will have a couple of weeks to break down the matchup in full, but an early prediction for how this game will go is fun to do. Unfortunately, Tennessee has some similar functions to the team Ohio State just lost to, TTUN.

Ohio State football vs. Tennessee early prediction

Looking at how these two teams match up, it's going to be a very close game. Will Howard is going to be the key in this game. He made some horrible decisions against Michigan, including two horrible interceptions. If he makes the same sort of decisions against the Vols, the Buckeyes will lose.

The strongest part of the Vols is their defensive line. That's exactly what the Ohio State Buckeyes struggled with against TTUN. Ryan Day and Chip Kelly decided to just run the ball into the teeth of their defense without any sort of success.

Early prediction: Ohio State football 24 Tennessee 21

This is perhaps the least confident I've been in any prediction this season. The last game I watched made me think this Buckeye team can't possibly rally to win a national championship. They haven't played a complete game this season. Why would they start now?

At the same time, Tennessee has looked awful in a lot of the big games they've played. They have a freshman quarterback who will be playing in a hostile environment. Ryan Day is coaching for his job. I have to believe the Buckeyes get it done.