ARLINGTON, Texas – There were some drastic contrasts for Ohio State after big defensive end Jack Sawyer's legend-making play in this Cotton Bowl, primarily that the Buckeyes won and now get to play for another national championship.
The Buckeyes ended last season with a loss to Missouri in the same bowl, when not that game's turn in the rotation as a College Football Playoff semifinal. They were then still feeling the sting of a loss in the regular-season finale to Michigan that ended their hopes for Big Ten and national titles after being undefeated until that point.
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There was an even more bitter loss this season to the Wolverines, an unranked three-touchdown underdog finishing up a disappointing year as reigning national champs. A fight broke out at midfield after Michigan players tried to plant their flag on the midfield logo at Ohio Stadium and were confronted by the Buckeyes in a punch-filled melee that was broken up by police using pepper spray.
“There was a lot of reflection that I went into after that game, and we had to look in at ourselves and really make a decision like if we’re gonna do this, we gotta do it right,” linebacker Cody Simon said. “And we came together as a team and I just, I’m thankful that we did because, so many strong bonds that we made from these moments right now."
It was Sawyer who grabbed the top of the Wolverines’ flag and ripped it off the pole as the brawl broke out six weeks ago. In the 28-14 win at the Cotton Bowl on Friday night, Sawyer stripped Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers — his former roommate — and returned the fumble 83 yards for the clinching touchdown with 2:13 left.
After not even making the Big Ten title game, Ohio State (13-2) gets a shot at its sixth AP national championship when it plays Notre Dame (14-1) on Jan. 20 in Atlanta. Only the eight-time champion Irish — who won their last in 1988 — Alabama (12) and Oklahoma (seven) have more AP titles than the Buckeyes.
“Something I've always dreamed of bringing back to Columbus since I was a little kid throwing the football in the backyard with my dad with an Ohio State jersey on,” said Sawyer, who grew up about 20 miles from the campus. “I was fortunate enough to make a big-time play.”
Ohio State's last national championship was 10 years ago when the CFP debuted with a four-team format and the Buckeyes as the No. 4 seed. They went into this first season of the expanded 12-team playoff as the eighth seed, winning in the first round on campus over Tennessee and then the CFP quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl against undefeated Big Ten champion Oregon, which beat them by a point in October.
“Not finished, though,” coach Ryan Day said during a much happier postgame at the Cotton Bowl this time. “It’s not finished. But we did just walk in here and say the same thing. What a difference a year makes. But we're not done yet.”
“I second that,” Sawyer responded.
Facing the Irish
Ohio State hasn't lost to the Irish since 1936.
While only six games since 1995, the Buckeyes won them all. The most recent were regular-season games in 2022 and 2023 involving most of their current upperclassmen.
“It will certainly help, but they’re also a different team,” Simon said. “It’s gonna be a big challenge for us.”
The Buckeyes also beat Notre Dame twice in the Fiesta Bowl, at the end of the 2005 and 2015 seasons, and a home-and-home series in 1995 and 1996.
More than the freshman
Will Howard threw for 289 yards in the Cotton Bowl even with spectacular freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith covered up by the Longhorns.
After 13 catches for 290 yards and four touchdowns in the first two playoff games, the 6-foot-3 Smith, a second team AP All-American, had only one catch for 3 yards in the semifinal.
“We knew they were going to be keying him. They clouded him, they doubled him, they were finding different ways to get two guys over top of him," Howard said. "But all that means is that we need to be smart and get the ball to other guys.”
Carnell Tate had a career-high seven catches for 87 yards and senior Emeka Egbuka had five catches for 51 yards. The biggest play was a 75-yard screen to running back TreVeyon Henderson for a touchdown right after Texas tied the game just before halftime.
“Sometimes these guys are like are we ever going to call a screen," Day said. “I actually said to the coaches, we're going to stop doing screen drill because we don't call any dang screens.”
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