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Tonight's Ohio State vs. Texas Cotton Bowl game between the Buckeyes and Longhorns is practically a home game for Texas. Can Steve Sarkisian and Company take advantage of it, or will Ryan Day and Company successfully continue their mission of redemption for losing four straight to that school up north?
This is the second straight season that Texas has made it to the playoff semifinals after losing 37-31 as a 3-seed against 2-seed Washington in the Sugar Bowl. Last season was Texas' first appearance in the playoff format which came into existence as a four-team operation in the 2014 season. Of course, the Longhorns were resenting the Big 12 last year. Now, they, are the sole remaining representative of the SEC, a league that has won 60% of the playoff championships (6 out of 10). Likewise, Ohio State is now the B1G's only chance at the 2024 national title after Penn State was ousted with a 27-24 loss in last night's Orange Bowl game by Notre Dame on a 41-yard field goal with 8 seconds left.
This year's 56-degree kickoff temperature in Miami Gardens was the second-lowest ever for an Orange Bowl game. It was even worse in Arlington where snow flurries were falling outside as teams conducted their final walk-throughs inside the climate-controlled AT&T Stadium. Today's forecast in the Metroplex has a 63% chance of snow with clearing skies before kickoff as fans seek comfort from the expected 32-degree weather outside.
Ohio State won the playoff in its first year with a 42-20 victory over Oregon in the same venue as tonight's game at Arlington. The Buckeyes lost the 2020 season title to Alabama, 52-24, in front of just 14,926 people at the Orange Bowl during the Covid pandemic.
The Longhorns will be looking to advance to a national championship game for the first time since a 37-21 loss to Alabama in the 2009 season BCS Championship. Texas won the 2005 season BCS title in one of the most exciting college football title games ever played as Vince Young scored two rushing touchdowns in the final 4:03 of the game, the last with just 8 seconds remaining, for a 41-38 comeback win. The Longhorns trailed 38-26 after Matt Leinart's 22-yard TD pass to Dwayne Jarrett with 6:42 to play.
Despite the location of the game, the visitors from Ohio State (12-2) opened as a 5.5-point favorite and the Buckeyes are still favored by 5.5 at FanDuel.com, as of the time of this writing. However, the line had jumped to as much as 6.5 at other sportsbooks. The Congrove Computer Rankings favor Texas (13-2) by 4.37 points after correctly having Notre Dame favored by a 2.49-poiint upset favorite against a closing line of 1.5 for Penn State last night.
Ohio State is looking for its first national title since that first 4-team playoff. The Buckeyes have five national titles in the AP Poll era (1936-present) while the Longhorns have three.
Day is 62-10 in his six-year head coaching career while Sarkisian is 38-16 in four seasons at Texas, and 84-51 over-all.
Ohio State played in the Cotton Bowl last year, and fell 14-3 to Missouri for the Buckeyes' first loss in the venue (3-1). Texas is 2-2 in the house that Jerry Jones built to serve as the NFL Cowboy's home field. Normally, the Longhorns' visits to the area are to annually face Oklahoma west of here at the State Fairgrounds where the original Cotton Bowl Stadium is located. This will be the first time that Texas has played in a Cotton Bowl at this venue.
Texas was the computer's projected first-place team in the SEC, but lost twice to Georgia, 15-30 tin Austin and 19-22 in overtime in the conference championship game in Atlanta.
Ohio State was the computer's projected second-place team in the B1G, behind Oregon. The loss to Michigan knocked the Buckeyes out of the conference title game which was won by the Ducks, 45-37, over Penn State.
Expect kick-off time for the game is 7:45 p.m. ET, 6:45 local. It will be broadcast on ESPN, ESPN-2, ESPN-U and ESPN Desportes.