Ohio State tops Texas to win the Cotton Bowl
The Ohio State Buckeyes (13-2) defeated the Texas Longhorns (13-3) 28-14 to win the Cotton Bowl on Friday night in the 16th edition of the bowl game played at AT&T Stadium.
The Buckeyes won the inaugural College Football Playoff championship a decade ago inside AT&T Stadium, but tonight’s game was the CFP Semifinal that advances the No. 8 seed into the championship game of the expanded 12-team field playoff against the 7th seeded Orange Bowl champion Notre Dame on Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Ohio State’s overall record at the home of the Dallas Cowboys improved to 4-1 and the all-time series between Ohio State and Texas evened up at 2-2.
The Longhorns had the ball on the one yard line with a chance to tie the game and wound up with quarterback Quinn Ewers getting strip-sacked on fourth-and-eight by Buckeyes defensive end Jack Sawyer, who returned it 83 yards for a touchdown to put Ohio State up by two touchdowns at 28-14 with 2:13 remaining in the game.
“I saw the ball pop out right to me after I tackled him and I was thinking I just gotta stay on my feet because like I said, I almost blacked out when I saw all that green grass in front of me,” Sawyer said on ESPN following the game.
Sawyer set the record for the longest fumble recovery for a touchdown in College Football Playoff history.
In a bit of irony, Sawyer and Ewers were roommates in Columbus prior to Ewers transferring down to Austin.
Quinshon Judkins ran for two touchdowns for Ohio State, including a one-yard TD run to put the Buckeyes up 21-14 with 7:02 left in the fourth quarter.
Ohio State quarterback Will Howard was 24-of-33 passing for 289 yards with a screen pass that TreVeyon Henderson took 75 yards for a touchdown just prior to halftime.
Longhorns running back Jaydon Blue had two touchdown receptions from Ewers to account for Texas’ offense.
Ohio State’s win over Texas did not have the same feel of pure domination as its Rose Bowl win over No. 1 Oregon, but the jubilation of this win had head coach Ryan Day and company celebrating the team’s resilience following the shocking 13-10 loss to Michigan in November.
In previous years, that game would have essentially ended their season, but the expanded playoff gave them a second life and the Buckeyes have embraced their path all the way to the national championship game.
