The 89th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic stage was set when the Texas Longhorns overcame a late surge by the Arizona State Sun Devils in the Chick-fil-a Peach Bowl to win in double overtime and the Ohio State Buckeyes took the water out of the pond the Oregon Ducks had been swimming in to an undefeated season, defeating the Ducks the second time around this season, by a score of 41-21.
Arlington, Texas, saw the Longhorns return to the Cotton Bowl for the first time in over 22 years, with their last trip ending in a 35-20 victory over the LSU Tigers in the 2002-03 season on January 1, 2003.
The last time you saw the Buckeyes in the Cotton Bowl was, well, last season, when they lost to the Missouri Tigers 14-3 in the 2023-24 season on December 29, 2023.
Ohio State would win the toss and defer to the second half, giving Texas the ball first.
Longhorns Head Coach Steve Sarkisian would elect to go for it on 4th-&-3 on this opening drive. Junior quarterback Quinn Ewers would drop back and send the ball to sophomore wide receiver DeAndre Moore, Jr. But to his feet and not his hands, resulting in Texas turning the ball over on downs at the Ohio State 36-yard line.
The Buckeyes would take advantage of this Longhorns' blunder, taking their opening drive into "glory territory" over a span of 10 plays, balanced with six passes to four rushes, the score coming on a carry by junior running back Quinshon Judkins for nine yards to give Ohio State the first lead of the game, 7-0, at the 7:24 mark of the first quarter.
On their second drive of the night, following a punt by the Longhorns, the Buckeyes would gain a yard, but lose 15 when senior running back TreVeyon Henderson would be flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after his one-yard carry.
Ohio State would gain a cumulative three yards on their next two plays, a two-yard loss and a five-yard gain, courtesy of the Texas defense, leading to Ohio State's first punt of the night, which occurred at the start of the second quarter.
Senior wide receiver Silas Bolden would get positive yardage on his return, fumble the ball, and recover his own mishap, ultimately returning the ball 15 yards to the Longhorns' own 25. Junior defensive end Caden Curry caused the fumble.
Texas would work against themselves on their third drive of the game, with a facemask penalty on junior wide receiver Matthew Golden moving the Longhorns back 10 yards to their own 14, and then after a 10-yard completion from Ewers to Moore, Ewers would be sacked for a 10-yard loss and would fumble the ball. The strip-sack was credited to junior linebacker Sonny Styles and recovered by Texas junior right guard DJ Campbell. This would bring up 4th-&-21 and lead to another punt by the Longhorns.
A pass on 3rd-&-6 that would sail past freshman wide receiver Ryan Wingo would lead to Texas' third-straight punt.
The tenacity of the Ohio State defense was undeniable, with the Buckeyes sacking Ewers three times on the Longhorns' first four drives.
However, Ohio State would also punt for the third-straight drive, sending the ball back to Texas with 5:22 before half.
After a dropped pass by junior wide receiver Isaiah Bond that would have led to a first down, the Longhorns punted the ball for the fourth-consecutive time.
On 3rd-&-10 on the Buckeyes' fifth drive of the night, sophomore linebacker Anthony Hill, Jr., and senior linebacker/defensive end hybrid Barryn Sorrell sacked Buckeyes graduate quarterback Will Howard for a loss of seven yards, forcing Ohio State to punt the ball away for the fourth time in a row.
Ewers, on 3rd-&-10 for Texas, took off and lowered his head, charging forward for the first down at midfield.
The officials would review the play, and rule that Ewers was short, bringing up 4th-&-1 with about a minute left in the opening half.
Sarkisian would elect to go for it on fourth down for the second time in this game, but, on this occasion, he brought in his backup quarterback, redshirt-freshman Arch Manning.
The Longhorns converted this time around, with gaining eight yards on his quarterback keeper, getting to the Buckeyes' 42-yard line.
Bolden caught a pass from Ewers on the very next play, spun around and broke free from a tackle attempt, and came away with a 24-yard gain in total, getting inside the Ohio State redzone, to their 18.
Following an incomplete pass, Ewers would air it out to junior running back Jaydon Blue who caught the ball in the left corner of the end zone, tying the game at 7-7 on the 18-yard reception with 29 seconds remaining in the opening half.
However, 29 seconds was more than enough time for the Buckeyes, with Henderson catching a short, wobbly pass from Howard and taking off for the races, outrunning the entire Longhorns' defense for a 75-yard score to raise Ohio State back ahead of Texas, 14-7, just 16 seconds after Texas tied the contest.
Ewers would elude defenders and launch the ball as the first-half clock expired.
That ball would fall incomplete, keeping the lead on the side of the Buckeyes, who would receive the ball following both teams taking a trip to their respective locker rooms.
In the first half, Ohio State had 236 yards to Texas' 177, with 200 of those yards coming through the air.
Howard was 14-for-19 for 200 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions.
Ewers went 10-for-20 for 133 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions.
Neither team turned the ball over in the first half.
The Buckeyes led the way in penalties with five for 50 yards, to the Longhorns' two for 19 yards.
Texas ran more plays, 36 to 30, gaining one more first down in the first half than Ohio State, 10 to nine.
However, the Buckeyes possessed the ball longer over the first two quarters, 15:58 to 14:02.
Longhorns' sophomore running back Quintrevion Wisner led all ball-carriers, with eight carries for 33 yards in the first half.
Henderson took three carries 23 yards for the Buckeyes in the opening half, with Judkins taking five carries 20 yards.
Sophomore wide receiver Carnell Tate led all receivers with five catches for 54 yards for Ohio State.
Moore had the most for the Longhorns, three catches for 29 yards.
The receiving touchdowns for both teams came from running backs, Blue of Texas followed immediately after by Henderson, as aforementioned.
Hill was atop both teams at the end of the first half with six total tackles (4 solo). He and Sorrell combined for a sack on Howard, as previously mentioned, giving them 0.5 sacks on the stat sheet in the first half.
Styles and graduate linebacker Cody Simon each had five total tackles for the Buckeyes. The sacks came from senior defensive end JT Tuimoloau (1.5), Styles (1), and graduate defensive tackle Ty Hamilton (0.5).
Ohio State's opening drive of the second half would be shortened due to an interception by senior linebacker David Gbenda, giving Texas possession at their own 30.
But less than three minutes later, the ball was back with the Buckeyes following a punt by the Longhorns.
Gbenda would end Ohio State's possession for the second-consecutive time when he stopped Judkins on a 3rd-&-1 carry attempt for no gain, forcing the Buckeyes to punt.
On 3rd-&-10 on their second drive of the second half, the Longhorns moved forward for the first down when Ewers got the ball out to Wisner for a short gain that Wisner would end up taking 14 yards for a first down.
That play was reviewed to see if Ewers' knee was down before he let go of the ball. Officials chose to uphold their call on the field, meaning the completion to Wisner stood, and Texas would have a new set of downs after that completion due to their gaining of the aforementioned 14 yards.
Nine plays later, Blue would line up to the left of Ewers in the backfield. On the snap, Blue would take off, receive the pass from Ewers, make a move on the lone defender in front of him and the end zone, and score his second touchdown of the night, tying the game on his score once again, this time at 14-14 at the 3:12 mark of the third quarter.
Ohio State's third drive of the third quarter would start with a 15-yard gain from Howard to Tate with 15 yards tacked onto it due to an unnecessary roughness penalty.
However, senior defensive tackle Vernon Broughton would get 10 of those 15 yards back that were given up by the penalty, thanks to his strip-sack on Howard. The Buckeyes' quarterback would recover the ball on the play.
Two plays later, freshman linebacker/defensive end hybrid Colin Simmons would tip Howard's pass attempt, bringing up fourth down and a punt by Ohio State.
Texas would take their next drive to the end of the third quarter, but an incomplete pass from Ewers in the direction of Golden would lead to the Longhorns punting the ball away just five seconds into the final quarter.
On the first play of the next drive by the Buckeyes, graduate wide receiver Emeka Egbuka looked to fall right when the ball was coming his way, with sophomore cornerback Malik Muhammad on the coverage. Muhammad was flagged for pass interference, giving the Buckeyes 15 yards and a first down.
Three plays later, on 3rd-&-8, Howard would find Tate for 18 yards to the Ohio State 47-yard line and a new set of downs.
A false-start penalty would move the Buckeyes back to the Longhorns' 41 and bring up 3rd-&-9.
Howard would complete a pass to graduate tight end Gee Scott, Jr., who would gain seven yards, leaving Ohio State Head Coach Ryan Day to decide if he would go for it on 4th-&-2 from the Texas 34.
Day would declare that he would in fact try for a new set of downs and Howard would keep the ball, carrying it for a first down and more, stopping only by stumbling on his own after a gain of 18 yards to the 16-yard line of the Longhorns.
Four plays later, Judkins would take the ball over the threshold from a yard out to give the lead back to the Buckeyes, 21-14, with 7:02 to go in the game.
Ewers would find senior tight end Gunnar Helm open on the left side in what would be a 34-yard gain... kind of.
Helm would be flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after the play, moving Texas back 15 yards despite their gaining of a first down, taking them from the Ohio State 25 to the Ohio State 40-yard line.
Shortly after this play, back-to-back pass-interference penalties would be called on the Buckeyes, placing the Longhorns on the Buckeye's two-yard line and then just two yards out of the end zone.
Two plays later, Wisner would lose seven yards on his rush attempt.
Ewers would follow with an incomplete pass thrown in the direction of Wingo and then on 4th-&-8 from the Ohio State eight-yard line, senior defensive end Jack Sawyer would get a strip-sack on Ewers. He would recover his own forced fumble and return the ball 83 yards for a defensive touchdown that doubled the Buckeyes' output to that of the Longhorns, 28-14, with 2:13 remaining.
This fumble recovery and return is now the longest fumble recovery return and fumble recovery return for a touchdown in Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic history.
Three plays into the next Longhorns' drive, Ewers would be intercepted by sophomore safety Caleb Downs, giving the ball back to the Buckeyes' offense to get into victory formation.
The battle of two intense defenses was won by Ohio State as the team from the Midwest bucked the Longhorns out of the College Football Playoff, setting up a showdown between the Buckeyes and the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame on Monday, January 20, 2025, for the first-ever College Football Playoff National Championship coming from a 12-team field.
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