ARLINGTON, Texas — No. 8 seed Ohio State will face No. 5 seed Texas in the Cotton Bowl tonight. The game doubles as a College Football Playoff semifinal game. The winner will advance to play No. 6 seed Notre Dame in the national championship game Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
Click here to participate in our OSU-Texas Game Day Thread on the Front Row message board.
As always, we have our Ten Pressing Questions feature to prepare you for today’s game. We will provide the answers in our Answering The Questions column. Here we go:
* 1. Will Texas have a true homefield advantage? – This game is being played just 175 miles from the Texas campus in Austin. The Longhorns enjoy huge fan support here in the Dallas Metroplex. It is possible OSU fans will be outnumbered two-to-one inside the mammoth AT&T Stadium. Will that impact OSU’s communication on offense and lead to presnap penalties?
* 2. Can the Buckeyes get off to a fast start? – Ohio State jumped out to a 21-0 first quarter lead over Tennessee and leads of 14-0 after one quarter and 34-0 in the middle of the second quarter against Oregon in the Rose Bowl. But Texas has also been a great first half team in its playoff wins over Clemson and Arizona State. It could be a real race to grab the early lead and the momentum in this one.
* 3. Will OSU’s new offensive line continue to thrive? – This will be the fifth game for the line of Donovan Jackson, Austin Siereveld, Carson Hinzman, Tegra Tshabola and Josh Fryar to start and play together. This group has not allowed a sack in any of the last four games. Texas is fourth nationally in quarterback sacks on the year with LB Collin Simmons and DEs Trey Moore and Barryn Sorrell leading the charge. DT Alfred Collins is also a load in the middle.
* 4. Can the Buckeyes establish the run? – Yes, TreVeyon Henderson did rip off a 66-yard touchdown run in OSU’s win over Oregon in the Rose Bowl. But the Buckeyes netted less than 4 yards per carry on their 30 other rushing attempts, although it didn’t really matter because OSU hit on a bunch of big pass plays to bury Oregon early in that one.
* 5. Can Will Howard stay hot and hit some big plays? – Howard has been on a real roll in OSU’s playoff wins over Tennessee and Oregon. He has hit on 73 percent of his passes for 630 yards with five touchdowns and one interception in those two games. He was masterful throwing and completing deep balls against Oregon, in particular. Howard needs to be judicious, however, because Texas has amassed 21 interceptions this season.
* 6. Which Ohio State wide receivers come to play? – Freshman phenom Jeremiah Smith has been the MVP of the College Football Playoff to this point. Can he continue on his torrid pace against a strong Texas secondary, led by Jim Thorpe Award-winning CB Jahdee Barron? This could be a game where Howard has to spread the wealth with Carnell Tate, Emeka Egbuka and tight end Gee Scott Jr. all getting involved.
* 7. Can the Buckeyes get after Texas QB (and one-time Buckeye) Quinn Ewers? – Ewers spent one semester at Ohio State back in 2021 before he transferred back to his home state of Texas to play for the Longhorns. He is among the career passing leaders in Texas annals with his career mirroring Colt McCoy’s. But Ewers wants to put his name alongside Vince Young, who led the Longhorns to their last national championship in 2005. And he will have to play well against many of his former teammates to do it. OSU’s defense produced an amazing eight sacks in the Rose Bowl win. You can’t expect anything like that here, but it would be good to see DEs Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau in the backfield early and often.
* 8. Will the Buckeyes be able to stop the run? – Texas RBs Quintrevion Wisner and Jaydon Blue have been very effective both as runners and as pass catchers. This is where OSU LBs Sonny Styles and Cody Simon and safety Caleb Downs absolutely must step up. Oregon ended up with negative rushing yards in the Rose Bowl, although that was due to the eight sacks.
* 9. Can Ohio State’s DBs play a clean game? – Ohio State CBs Denzel Burke and Davison Igbinosun have played their best football over the season’s last four or five games. Igbinosun has cut down the penalties and Burke has given up fewer big plays. But Texas counters with a certified big play guy in Matthew Golden. DeAndre Moore and tight end Gunnar Helm can also take the top off of a defense. The OSU secondary needs to stand tall in this one.
* 10. Which team will win on third down? – Texas is ninth nationally in third down defense, allowing conversions just 32 percent of the time. OSU didn’t need many conversions in its lopsided wins over Tennessee and Oregon. Can the Buckeyes make the plays they need if the game comes down to some key third down situations?
* Bonus Question 1: Will special teams make a difference? – The outstanding play on offense and defense has made special teams plays almost moot in the two playoff wins. But rest assured there could be one or two of these plays that will shape the outcome of what figures to be a competitive game. Texas kicker Bert Auburn and OSU kicker Jayden Fielding are usually reliable, but the pressure will build as this game rolls on.
* Bonus Question 2: Is Ohio State moving on to the national championship game? – We saw last night that a team (let’s say Notre Dame) can play almost a miserable game for three quarters, but pull it out in the end and move on to the national championship game. The only thing that matters is ending the day with more points than Texas to keep this Ohio State team of destiny on its path to Atlanta and a spot in that championship game.
We will let you know how they do. Enjoy the game and check out Bucknuts.com later today for all of the coverage.
Also Check Out
Here are more links to Cotton Bowl coverage:
Ohio State-Texas recruiting battles shape match-up
BM5: Predictions for Cotton Bowl
Herbstreit quiets Howard on OSU roster make-up
Cotton Bowl Press Conference: Day, Sarkisian final comments
Cotton Bowl Game Data: Preview, prediction for OSU-Texas
Tale of the Tape: OSU-Texas history; Cotton Bowl history
Bucknuts Experts Roundtable: Our staffers make their picks
