COLUMBUS, Ohio — Saturday was a tough night for the Tennessee football team, and Nico Iamaleava had plenty to say about it.

Ohio State jumped all over Tennessee early and never looked seriously threatened in a 42-17 win over the Vols in a College Football Playoff game at Ohio Stadium, and Tennessee’s redshirt freshman quarterback discussed the performance with GoVols247 and others.

Saturday’s win propelled Ohio State (11-2, 6-2 Big Ten) into a rematch with top-ranked Oregon in The Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, and it shoved Tennessee (10-3, 6-2 SEC) into an offseason that surely will start with a lot of transfer portal chatter in the coming days.

Ohio State opened as approximately a touchdown favorite over the Vols, and that line never moved much, but the Buckeyes needed less than seven minutes to make themselves look like a great bet. A third-down face mask call on Tennessee senior defensive lineman Bryson Eason wiped away what would have been a sack and three-and-out on the game’s opening drive, and moments later senior quarterback Will Howard threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to star freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith to open the scoring with 12:46 left in the first quarter. The Vols then went three-and-out and punted it back to the Buckeyes, and two plays after a busted coverage put Ohio State back the doorstep, junior running back Quinshon Judkins plowed in from 1 yard to make it a two-score game.

Tennessee again went nowhere on its next possession, and the Buckeyes were back in the end zone seven plays later on a 29-yard run from senior TreVeyon Henderson. A Jayden Fielding PAT pushed the score to 21-0 with 3:22 left in the first quarter. Two scoring drives separated by an acrobatic interception from senior safety Will Brooks got the Vols within 21-10 heading into the break, and they had momentum and the ball heading into the third quarter. But they picked up only one first down on their drive that opened the third quarter, and Ohio State then pushed the lead back to three scores on a 22-yard strike from Howard to Smith with 9:16 left in the third quarter.

A Tennessee offense without SEC Offensive Player of the Year Dylan Sampson wasn’t the same as an offense with SEC Offensive Player of the Year Dylan Sampson. The dynamic junior running back aggravated an already-tender hamstring on the game’s first possession and finished with just three touches. Senior receiver Dont’e Thornton Jr. and junior receiver Squirrel White also failed to finish the game with re-aggravated injuries, and the rest of the receivers struggled to get open, forcing the Vols to alter the plan. Iamaleava had a career-high 20 carries, and many of those were scrambles on designed passing plays. The touted redshirt freshman completed just 14 of 31 passes for 104 yards, but he had 82 sack-adjusted yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

Ohio State’s lead grew to 42-10 early in the fourth quarter, and a 2-yard Iamaleava touchdown run made the score look only a bit better.

Here’s everything Iamaleava said after Saturday’s loss.