Tennessee vs. Ohio State weather: What’s the coldest game the Vols have ever played?

One of the best parts of the new 12-team College Football Playoff format is the introduction of home playoff games, with each first-round matchup taking place on the campus of the higher seed. In addition to a home crowd backing them for four quarters, the home team also gets bring the visitor into the elements, something that was hardly ever a factor in major bowl games universally held either in warm-weather locations or indoors.

The forecast isn't apolcayptic for Ohio State's showdown with Tennessee in Columbus on Saturday night; there's no Ice Bowl in the making, and we're unlikely to get any snow. But things could get awfully chilly at the Horseshoe, in a way that the Vols have seldom had to deal with before.

Ohio State-Tennessee weather forecast: Here comes the cold

Kickoff from Columbus is set for 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, Dec. 21, and the late start should make things even more inhospitable for a Vols team that didn't play north of the Mason-Dixon Line all year. According to the National Weather Service, the forecast for Saturday night is partly cloudy, with a low temperature of around 16 degrees. If there's some good news, it's that things were nearly much worse: Rain and snow is expected to hit the Columbus area on Thursday and Friday, with accumulation of around a half an inch possible. Had Ohio State-Tennessee drawn the Friday slot, we could've been in for a wet and wild affair.

As it is, though, Tennessee will have to play in conditions they're not very familiar with — at least, not in some 75 years.

What's the coldest football game Tennessee has ever played?

The coldest game that the Volunteers have played in recent memory came back in 2015, when Butch Jones' team traveled to Missouri and throttled Drew Lock and the Tigers in a 19-8 win that wound up being Gary Pinkel's home finale. But that was still some 29 degrees at kickoff, practically balmly compared to what Tennessee will experience on Saturday night.

And prior to that, you have to go all the way back to 1950, when Tennessee beat Kentucky in a game that featured temperatures reportedly around 10 degrees. (We only have newspaper reports to go on that far back, so we'll have to take their word for it.)

Of course, it's worth noting that Ohio State doesn't actually have that much experience playing outdoors, up north, this late in the year; this will be the first home game ever played at Ohio Stadium in the month of December. And especially these days, when recruiting has become national and rosters like the Buckeyes are full of players from the South and the West Coast, there won't be a ton of cold-weather experience to fall back on. We'll just have to wait and see which team will handle the elements better on Saturday night.