Ohio State's first-ever December home game is Saturday against Tennessee in the College Football Playoff.Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State football coach Ryan Day predicted it.
On numerous occasions leading into a Week 13 matchup against Indiana, Day said the Ohio Stadium crowd could make life difficult for the visitors. He knew the Hoosiers used a clapping cadence, and if the OSU faithful was engaged enough, it could throw IU off.
Day was spot on.
“I thought we’d be able to handle (crowd noise) with our normal cadence based on the reports that we’d gotten” IU coach Curt Cignetti said postgame. “Some of the linemen could hear, but the center couldn’t, so we had to go silent.”
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Ohio State was in a classic look-ahead spot, even against an Indiana team then ranked in the top five.
The Hoosiers came to Columbus a week before the Buckeyes hosted rival Michigan. It also marked the fifth of six straight noon kickoffs for Ohio State, suggesting it could be a sleepy crowd.
That wasn’t the case, with Ohio State fans helping make life miserable for Indiana. On Saturday, they’ll have a chance to turn it up a notch.
Ohio State hosts Tennessee in the first round of the College Football Playoff. The matchup features an 8 p.m. kickoff, marking the Buckeyes’ first home night game since a Week 2 win against Western Michigan.
Ohio State has a chance to highlight something it’s been yearning to showcase all year.
There will be aspects to Saturday’s game that resemble an on-campus NCAA Tournament game in women’s basketball or baseball.
While teams are at home, the location is technically hosting a neutral event. It’s why both bands are present, advertising is limited and intro videos play for the visiting team.
Many of those rules will be in place for the CFP, but Ohio State will still have an opportunity to make the game a spectacle.
A decrease in advertising will allow for video boards to be used in different ways, including to create a light show. Athletic director Ross Bjork also promised a drone show and pyrotechnics while making an appearance on 97.1 The Fan last week.
“We want to go all in,” Bjork said.
Bjork acknowledged and joked about the plethora of noon kickoffs Ohio State had to close the regular season.
After many fans voiced their displeasure about the schedule, Saturday cannot disappoint.
When the schedule was announced for the first-round games, Ohio State posted a meme on its social media channels.
The photo showed a man breaking shackles off his arms. In this case, the shackles represented noon kickoffs.
“We’re going to feed off the fans,” Day said during his weekly sit-down with 10TV. “The fans are going to feed off us. These players are going to give everything they possibly have in that game. I know it’s going to be an electric atmosphere.”
Saturday gives Ohio State a chance to also impress recruits from afar.
Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium is known as one of college football’s best atmospheres, and it’s often on display. With ESPN owning rights to airing SEC games, the Vols are often playing in primetime.
From fireworks to light shows, the world has gotten to see Neyland Stadium in peak form.
It’s allowed for Tennessee’s creative team to put together videos that showcase their product for recruits to see.
Ohio State has a rare opportunity to do the same with its first-ever December home game.
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