A boosted Ohio State will face resilient Texas in the Cotton Bowl for a spot in the CFP title game

PASADENA, Calif. — Texas will be much closer to home than Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl.

The Buckeyes seem to be a lot closer to Atlanta.

There, the winner of the Cotton Bowl, which doubles as the College Football Playoff semifinal this year, will head to the national championship game next.

But first, two powerhouse college football programs meet Jan. 10 at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium.

No. 6 Ohio State (12-2, CFP No. 8 seed) was favored for a near touchdown in many early Cotton Bowl betting lines, reflecting the confidence created by the Buckeyes’ optimization of their bountiful talent over the past two games. Ohio State has looked like the best team in the nation since the first 12-team CFP began last month.

Coach Ryan Day’s team bounced back from two regular-season losses to beat a pair of elite opponents by a combined 45 points. Ohio State beat No. 7 Tennessee 42-17 in Columbus before jumping out to an early 34-point lead in a 41-21 loss to top-ranked Oregon in the 111th Rose Bowl.

“There’s an intangible that you can’t describe (in) the chemistry that we have on this team,” Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka said. “And we just don’t want it to end. These are some of my best friends in the world. Obviously, whatever we do, regardless of whether we keep winning, it’s going to come to an end soon. So we’re just taking every moment and just trying to do our best for another game that we’re going to have with each other.”

The win over the previously undefeated Ducks handily underscored the immensity of the Buckeyes’ talent — and made a strong case for a 12-team playoff, since two-loss Ohio State could easily have been left out of previous playoff formats with smaller fields .

No. 4 Texas (13-2, CFP No. 5 seed) only has to travel 200 miles north of Austin to Arlington for its second straight trip to the CFP semifinals, needing one win to reach the Longhorns’ first CFP championship game – in.

The Longhorns have been much less convincing than the Buckeyes in their first two CFP wins, but the Texas train somehow keeps rolling in coach Steve Sarkisian’s fourth season.

Georgia is the only team this season to beat the Longhorns, who rebounded from an overtime SEC title loss to the Bulldogs by knocking off Clemson 38-24, then outlasted Arizona State 39-31 in double overtime to win the wild Peach Bowl.

Texas barely outlasted the Sun Devils after blowing a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter, missing two late field goals, then threw a TD pass on fourth-and-13 in overtime to keep the game alive.

“The one thing I know about our group is when our backs are against the wall and it takes our best, our best comes out time and time again,” Sarkisian said. “The resilience these guys showed (in the Peach Bowl) was something that makes you a really proud coach.”

Big names

Texas fans will get to see Buckeyes sensational wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, who had two long touchdown catches in the excellent Rose Bowl. Meanwhile, Ohio State fans will get another look at quarterback Quinn Ewers, a Texas native who played for both schools.

Ewers was the top prospect in the 2022 recruiting class who committed to Texas in August 2020, but three months later he committed to Ohio State as one of the top-rated prospects to ever sign with the school. He graduated from high school a year early and made two snaps for the Buckeyes as a backup to 2021 freshman CJ Stroud.

He left Columbus after one season for Texas, where he is in his third season as a prolific starter for the Longhorns.

Back in Texas

Ohio State quarterback Will Howard also has a history with Texas — both the state and the school.

He threw three TD passes while leading Kansas State to the Big 12 championship at AT&T Stadium two years ago, shocking previously undefeated TCU in overtime in the league title game.

Ewers and the Longhorns won the Big 12 title in the same stadium a year later, defeating Oklahoma State.

Howard also played for K-State against the Longhorns in three losses, including a 33-30 overtime thriller 14 months ago.

Ohio State itself even has a cherished history as the lavish home of the NFL’s Cowboys. Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes defeated Oregon 42-20 on this field on Jan. 12, 2015, to win the first CFP Championship Game in the four-team playoff era.

Back to Cotton

Texas hasn’t played in the Cotton Bowl in 22 years, but will make its record 23rd bowl game appearance, 10 more than second-place Texas A&M.

Ohio State will be in the 88-year-old bowl for the fourth time. The Buckeyes also played in the Cotton Bowl last year, losing 14-3 to Missouri in an anticlimactic finish to a season ruined in their previous game – a loss to arch-rival Michigan, the eventual national champion.

A brief history

This Cotton Bowl is just the fourth ever meeting between these two titans of the sport — and coincidentally, it’s even a preview of next year’s season opener when Texas visits Ohio Stadium on Aug. 30.

Texas and Ohio State played home series in 2005 and 2006, with both teams winning on the road. 2. Vince Young’s Longhorns beat the fourth-ranked Buckeyes 25-22 in September 2005 for their first win en route to a national championship, while the Buckeyes responded with a 24-7 victory a year later in Austin.

The schools then met in an exciting Fiesta Bowl to close out the 2008-09 season. Colt McCoy threw a 26-yard TD pass to Quan Cosby with 16 seconds left in a 24-21 Texas victory.