Are the Bucks getting stopped right here? Well, it is debatable. For the Vols to clutch this playoff win against OSU, it will all boil down to QB Nico Iamaleave. Now it hasn’t been that long since we last talked about the problems this QB has. Back in November, Bear Bryant’s Burner pointed out that most of Nico Iamaleave’s impressive performance came against mid-teams like Kent State and NC State. He had 15 touchdowns back then, and out of the 15, 12 came from such games. This, coupled with the fact that Nico has always had some major problems with turnovers, doesn’t paint a good outcome for the Vols. But then again, in the last 5 games, Nico Iamaleave has stepped up.

But is it enough? They performed well against an unranked Vandy team and also got a blowout 56-0 win against a UTEP team who are 2-9. Now when you play the numbers game again, yes, Nico is the only redshirt freshman QB in the playoff right now, but when compared to the elites, his stats don’t hold up. This is exactly what Brandon Zimmerman also points out on X. “Nico Iamaleava has the lowest QBR of any starting QB in the CFP,” Brandon wrote in his post. The post also highlighted the fact that Nico has only managed to grab a 10.9-yard completion and 5.6-yard dropback when put up against the 6 ranked on the ESPN defensive SP+ top 40.

Finally, his being terrible under pressure and having the 3rd highest sack to pressure rate in the FBS doesn’t help the Vols’ case. See, out of all the games on their schedule, any Vol fan can agree that their defensive line has been carrying most of the games.

The game against Bama? While Vols won, Nico was terrible with 1 touchdown and 1 interception but 3 sacks. Georgia flawlessly managed to exploit this same weakness, and Nico went out with a 60% completion rate and 5 massive sacks.

See, JD PicKell had brought up this topic, and he made it clear that if Josh Heupel gets that rare 100% from Nico where he is landing those deep shots, and you see the D-line step up, then Vols fans don’t have to be worried about anything. Because here is the thing. Ryan Day and OSU are still struggling to deal with a strong defense.

Ryan Day’s final hope

We can all agree that Ryan Day and the Bucks failed the Michigan game because they tried to “out-physical” a very physical Michigan team. See, Sherrone Moore came into that game riding on his defense and with some good plays from the offense. What Day had to do was play it on the sides where OSU WRs truly shine.

When it comes to the Vols, will the same trick work? The most important thing would be protecting QB Will Howard. This guy is amazing, but how he performed while he was pressured by the Michigan defense exposed the key flaw in his play.

If the Vols get close and personal, which they definitely will, Howard is going to have a bad time. The Vols defensive line is ranked 11th in the entire FBS when it comes down to creating QB pressure.

During the Michigan game, Howard had to deal with an all-time season high-pressure rate from the Wolverines, and that caused him to land only 19 out of 33 attempted passes and also 2 interceptions.

We think this could end up being another Michigan disaster for OSU if Day fails to bring back the confidence he and his boys showed when they took the undefeated crown away from Indiana. In terms of running depth and WRs, OSU is on top, but if Chip Kelly fails to make the proper play calls, then it is over.