Where Tennessee vs. Ohio State in the CFP ranks as one of the coldest football games in Vols history

Tennessee football played one of the coldest games in program history in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

The temperature at kickoff of Saturday’s first-round game at Ohio State in Columbus was 25 degrees. This is the third coldest game in program history, matching the temperature of the Vols’ home game against Vanderbilt on November 26, 1977.

Tennessee (10-2) is the No. 9 seed in the College Football Playoff. The Vols played No. 8 seed Ohio State (10-2) in the final first-round game of the day, kicking off at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC and ESPN. The winner will play No. 1 Oregon in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 in Pasadena, Calif.

A handful of Vols were shirtless as they took the field for warmups. Weather was a consistent storyline leading up to the game at Ohio Stadium, with several teams from the South playing away games in the North. SMU lost at Penn State 38-10 earlier in the day.

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The 10 coldest Tennessee football games to kick off

1. 10 Degrees: Tennessee vs. Kentucky on November 25, 1950

2. 18 degrees: Tennessee vs. Kentucky on November 22, 1952

3. 25 degrees: Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt on November 26, 1977

4. 25 degrees: Tennessee in the state of Ohio on December 21, 2024

5. 28 degrees: Tennessee in Missouri on November 21, 2015

6. 29 degrees: Tennessee vs. Kansas State in Dallas on January 1, 2001

7. 30 degrees: Tennessee in Kentucky on November 21, 1981

8. 30 degrees: Tennessee in Kentucky on November 29, 2003

9. 31 degrees: Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt on November 30, 1957

10. 31 degrees: Tennessee in Kentucky on November 21, 1987

Cora Hall covers women’s athletics at the University of Tennessee. Email her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you like Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription to access everything.

This article originally appeared on the Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee-Ohio State: Where CFP game will be among coldest for Vols