4 Tennessee players and coaches to blame for CFP dog walking at hands of Ohio State

The Tennessee Volunteers are going home from their first College Football Playoff appearance disappointed. Actually, that's an understatement. They're heading back to Knoxville thoroughly humbled by the Ohio State Buckeyes.

The Vols were underdogs going in. Losing, while never desired, was always the most likely outcome. Losing by 25 points? That wasn't supposed to be how it went down.

Tennessee's embarrassment came down to the most important players on the roster not playing at CFP level.

Jermod McCoy

Jeremiah Smith is a nightmare for any cornerback to take on. Unfortunately for Jermod McCoy, the All-SEC DB, he can make even the best defenders look like walk-ons.

So when I include McCoy on this list, it's with all due respect. McCoy is a damn good cornerback, but the Vols needed him to be elite to slow down Smith. He didn't get there.

Smith had six catches for 103 yards and two touchdowns. He made life easy on Will Howard by making a series of impressive catches over the top of Tennessee defenders, namely McCoy and Rickey Gibson III. McCoy resorted to committing pass interference to prevent Smith from making another touchdown grab.

That's the difference between CFP contenders and the teams that make a first-round exit. McCoy's best wasn't good enough to keep Smith and the Buckeyes out of the endzone.

James Pearce Jr.

James Pearce Jr. led the Tennessee pass rush this season with 7.5 sacks, nearly twice as many as the next Volunteer. His 1.5 sacks against Alabama were key to the signature victory that essentially kept UT in the playoff hunt.

On Saturday, Pearce had two tackles for loss, leading his team in that measure. One of those forced the Buckeyes into a punt. However, neither Pearce nor any of his teammates managed to bring down Howard for a sack.

Again, there's no offense meant to Pearce. He's a great player and has had a great season. This was just a game the Vols needed a huge performance from their star defensive lineman. Failing to log a sack, or open up an opportunity for a teammate to get one, doesn't cut it.

In terms of pass rush, Howard was allowed to be far too comfortable. He was hurried just twice. By comparison, Ohio State got to the quarterback four times.

As a defense, Tennessee gave up 156 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. So the defensive line didn't do enough in run defense either.

Nico Iamaleava

It sure would have been easier to be Nico Iamaleava if he had to put up with the same pass rush as Will Howard. Instead, he had to deal with JT Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer in his face. That partially explains how Iamaleava came away with 45 percent pass completions and just 104 yards through the air.

The positive for the Vols is that Iamaleava didn't have a Kevin Jennings-type performance with a slew of turnovers. Instead, he salvaged what he could by using his legs to rush for 47 yards and two touchdowns.

That doesn't mean Iamaleava came through with the type of performance Tennessee needed from their star quarterback in the biggest game of the season. They needed a whole lot more from his arm.

Tennessee's slow start lands at the feel of Iamaleava. As Knox News pointed out, the QB didn't complete his first pass until there was 9:36 remaining in the second quarter. That allowed Ohio State to take control of the game and lead 21-0 by the end of the first quarter.

Iamaleava deserves praise for a gutsy performance. It's just that Tennessee needed a five-star outing from their five-star QB.

Josh Heupel

We can point to the players all we want, but in college football, the buck has to stop with the head coach. Josh Heupel owns this loss more than anyone. That's specifically because it was a blowout.

It would be one thing if Tennessee put up a valiant fight in an uphill battle, falling to an objectively better team. But the Volunteers were outclassed in nearly every department.

The fact is, Heupel's offense has been disappointing all season. They technically averaged 37.3 points per game, but offensive explosions against weak opposition like Chattanooga, North Carolina State, Kent State and UTEP accounted for more than half of their points on the season. Outside of those games, the Vols averaged 25 points per game. They scored no more than 17 points in any of their three losses.

Serious questions can be asked of Heupel's ability to compete at the top levels with the offense as currently run.

The bigger issue is the manner which Heupel's teams tend to lose. In some ways, this outcome shouldn't have been a huge surprise.

As Jordan Moore pointed out on social media, Heupel loses by double digits more often than not. Until he shakes that habit, we're going to attribute every big loss to something he's not doing correctly when getting his team ready to play.