A huge opportunity awaits Tennessee football on Saturday, and Nico Iamaleava had plenty to say about it.

Tennessee plays a College Football Playoff game at Ohio State on Saturday night, and the Vols’ redshirt freshman quarterback discussed the performance with GoVols247 and others after his team’s Tuesday practice at Anderson Training Center.

Iamaleava has said from his days as a five-star prospect committed to the Vols that his goal was to get to Knoxville and lead Tennessee to a national championship, and he has a chance to do that in his first season as a starter. Getting to the 12-team College Football Playoff was only the first step, though. The Vols didn’t do enough to earn a bye, and the CFP Selection Committee thought they didn’t quite do to host a first-round game, either. So Iamaleava and Co. have to win four games, starting with a really tough matchup on the road against what many consider the most talented team in the country.

Tennessee must win in Columbus to get even a second game in the CFP, and that second game would be a Rose Bowl showdown against top-ranked, unbeaten Oregon on New Year’s Day in Pasadena — just down the road from Iamaleava’s native Long Beach, Calif.

Most outside the Tennessee football facility don’t expect the Vols to even get that second game. Ohio State opened as approximately a touchdown favorite over Tennessee, and that line hasn’t moved much the past couple of weeks.

Saturday is a big challenge for the Iamaleava, but the nation’s No. 2 overall prospect in 247Sports’ 2023 rankings said he came to Tennessee precisely for games like the one he’s about to play, and that he and his teammates are full of confidence heading into the matchup. And he said he’s not too concerned about a forecast that suggests the temperature could dip below 20 degrees in the second half, either, despite his obvious lack of experience in conditions like that.

Iamaleava touched on many other topics Tuesday. Here’s everything he said.