Herbstreit nailed it

[BanditVol]

He made a comment after the game that the "OSU staff did not feel Tennessee's defensive backfield had been tested much, and decided to go after them."

Also, I watched a Josh Pate youtube prior to the game, and he said OSU likely "could not run consistently" and "would need to try and take advantage of their 5 star WRs.  If they can get them going, they will win".  Unfortunately, he was right.

As thrilled as I am with the performance of our DBs this year in a year where literally every single one from last year was gone, I think Herby made a great point. Other than Beck (who destroyed them) what QB tested them this year?  Pavia is  more a runner than a passer (plus we were able to pressure him, unlike Howard and Beck) and Milroe is very inconsistent (and in fact gifted us a couple of ints). 

I'm not going so far to say our DBs were fools gold, but against top tier QBs/WRs, they still have a ways to go. 

Credit to the OSU staff for figuring that out (though it pains me greatly to say that).