Fired up Ohio State goes against tenacious Texas in Cotton Bowl for a spot in the CFP title game

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

The Buckeyes appear to be a whole lot closer to Atlanta.

That's where the winner of the Cotton Bowl, which doubles as a College Football Playoff semifinal this year, will be heading next for the national championship game.

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 by nearly a touchdown in many early Cotton Bowl betting lines, reflecting the confidence generated by the Buckeyes' optimization of their bountiful talent over their last 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 has rebounded from two regular-season losses to rout a pair of elite opponents by a combined 45 points. Ohio State beat No. 7 Tennessee 42-17 in Columbus before jumping to an early 34-point lead in a 41-21 thrashing of top-ranked Oregon in the 111th Rose Bowl on Wednesday.

"There's kind of an intangible thing that you can't describe (in) the chemistry that we have on this team," Ohio State receiver Emeka Egbuka said. "And we just really don't want it to end. These are some of my best friends in the world. Obviously, no matter what we do, no matter if we keep winning, it's going to come to an end soon. So we're just taking in all the moments and just trying to push for one more game to spend with each other."

Beating the previously unbeaten Ducks in handy fashion underscored the immensity of the Buckeyes' talent — and it made a strong argument in favor of the 12-team playoff, since a team with Ohio State's two losses easily could 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 from Austin to Arlington for its second straight trip to the CFP semifinals, needing one win to reach the Longhorns' first CFP championship game.

The Longhorns have been much less convincing than the Buckeyes in their first two CFP victories, 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 have rebounded from their overtime SEC title game loss to the Bulldogs by knocking off Clemson 38-24 and then outlasting Arizona State 39-31 in double overtime to win a wild Peach Bowl.

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

"The one thing that I know about our group is when our backs are against the wall and when our best is needed, our best shows up time and time again," Sarkisian said. "The resiliency that these guys showed (in the Peach Bowl) was something as a coach makes you really proud."

Big names

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

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

He left Columbus after one season and transferred to Texas, where he is in his third season as the Longhorns' prolific starter.

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, beating 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 fond history at the palatial home of the NFL's Cowboys. Urban Meyer's Buckeyes beat Oregon 42-20 on this field on Jan. 12, 2015, to win the first CFP championship game in the four-team playoff era.

Back in Cotton

Texas hasn't played in the Cotton Bowl in 22 years, but it will be making its record 23rd appearance in the bowl game, 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 archrival Michigan, the eventual national champions.

Short 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 a home-and-home series in 2005 and 2006, with both teams winning on the road. Vince Young's No. 2 Longhorns beat the fourth-ranked Buckeyes 25-22 in September 2005 for the first landmark win on their road to the national championship, while the Buckeyes answered with a 24-7 win one year later in Austin.

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