Tag: Cotton Bowl

Ohio State vs. Missouri Cotton Bowl predictions from the Buckeyes Wire staff

Here’s what each of our writers say about the outcome of the Cotton Bowl between Ohio State and Missouri. #GoBucks

OK, here we go again. It’s time to put a bow on the 2023 season, we just don’t know what kind of gift Ohio State and its fans are going to unwrap as it goes toe-to-toe with SEC foe Missouri in the Cotton Bowl Friday night.

Despite a disappointing end to the season, the OSU team seems to be motivated to end the season right as evidenced by the lack of opt-outs for this one. In fact, both teams have most of their frontline players all-in for this one pending some last minute news.

Before every Ohio State football game this year, we asked out five writers to provide their predictions for what they think will happen on the field ahead of time, and we’re doing it one last time before we hit the offseason.

Here’s how each member of our staff sees the game playing out between Ohio State and Missouri Friday night.

Ohio State football vs. Missouri in the Cotton Bowl: Stream, injury report, broadcast info for

Looking for Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl? Want to know about some key injuries and players? We’ve got all you need to know. #GoBucks

We get our first look at a New Year’s Six bowl game on Friday night when the Ohio State football team does battle with the Missouri Tigers down in Dallas in the Cotton Bowl. Both teams have had very good years, but for the Buckeyes, it’s not where they had designs of playing this time of year.

However, a third-straight loss to Michigan sent OSU packing and out of the College Football Playoff, so here we are. For the Tigers, they are more than happy to be here. Not normally sitting at the royal table, Missouri put together a 10-2 record and are in a big money bowl game for the first time since the New Year’s Six games were implemented back in 2014.

Say what you will about motivation though because the Ohio State players sure look to be saying and doing all of the right things leading up to the game despite the disappointment. In fact, the opt outs have been few and far between officially, and that has caused the Vegas line on the game to move from being one in which Missouri was favored, to now one in which the Buckeyes are expected to come out victorious.

We know you are going to tune in, and if you are looking for information on the game, we have you covered with broadcast information and some key injuries.

Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic: How to watch Ohio State vs. Missouri on TV or live stream

How to watch the Cotton Bowl Classic between Ohio State and Missouri on TV and live stream on Friday night.

You have waited all bowl season for the Big Ten to start going head-to-head with the SEC, and that moment has finally arrived. Ohio State will take on the Missouri Tigers in the Cotton Bowl Classic, the first New Years Six bowl on the schedule this bowl season, on Friday evening. Ohio State will have a new starting quarterback and faces a question about the status of its top player on the roster ahead of the NFL draft, and the Buckeyes will be facing one of the more successful offenses in the SEC.

Ohio State is playing in one of three New Years Six bowl game involving a Big Ten team. Penn State will face Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl on Saturday afternoon for another Big Ten vs. SEC showdown. And, of course, Michigan will face Alabama in the Rose Bowl for a College Football Playoff semifinal matchup on Jan. 1, 2024.

Ohio State does not have a stellar history in bowl games against SEC schools, but will this one have a happier result for the Buckeye faithful?

Here is how you can watch Ohio State take on Missouri in our first Big Ten vs. SEC bowl matchup of the bowl season.

Ohio State fans aren’t exactly gobbling up Cotton Bowl tickets this postseason

How excited are you for the Cotton Bowl? #GoBucks

If you ever wondered how excited Ohio State football fans are for the Cotton Bowl matchup vs. Missouri on Friday night, this should tell you all you need to know. According to multiple reports, the Buckeyes sold less than two-thirds of the tickets allotted to them.

Ouch.

In some ways it makes sense. There’s no doubt Buckeye fans had their hearts set on beating Michigan and ending a two-game losing streak, winning the Big Ten, then making it out to either the Rose Bowl or down to the Sugar Bowl in one of the semifinals of the College Football Playoff.

It didn’t happen, so most fans weren’t exactly chomping at the bit to gobble up tickets to go down to a wannabe warm weather location inside a dome in Dallas in a bowl game OSU just played in six years ago.

So, what are the numbers exactly? Ohio State was allotted about 12,000 tickets and sold approximately 7,500 of those before returning the rest to the Cotton Bowl. That’s a significant change in demand from last season when the Buckeyes made the College Football Playoff and played against Georgia in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. OSU sold its 13,000 tickets that were set aside in just a matter of days.

And if we want to look back on the last time OSU was in a non-CFP bowl game, there was still higher demand. At the end of the 2021 season, when the Buckeyes played Utah in the Rose Bowl, fans gobbled up 13,000 tickets, or about two-thirds of what the folks in Pasadena provided.

There’s also a little bit of fatigue most likely with Buckeye Nation if not playing for the biggest of prizes. Ohio State is the only program to have made a New Year’s Six bowl game since the current format rolled out in 2014. Contrast that to Missouri, whose fans purchased about 13,000 Cotton Bowl tickets in just one day according to a spokesman. It’s the Tigers first New Year’s Six bowl game and fans want to be a part of it.

But hey, don’t worry — despite the low excitement to travel during the holidays for OSU fans, you can almost bank on them turning on television sets and streaming devices when the game kicks off at 8 p.m. ET on Friday night.

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on X.

Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer leaning on returning in 2024

How many guys will we see come back in 2024 from the talented junior class? #GoBucks

The year of 2023 didn’t end the way anyone with a scarlet and gray wardrobe wanted. Ohio State lost its third-straight game to Michigan which kept the Buckeyes out of the Big Ten Championship game for the same length of time. In 2021 and 2023, it also kept OSU out of the College Football Playoff.

However, one thing that has become apparent is that the current crop of veteran junior players on the team feel like they might have some unfinished business. We are hearing and seeing more and more examples and hints at a significant crop of those players looking to come back in 2024.

One of those players appear to be OSU defensive end, Jack Sawyer. He didn’t have eye-popping numbers in 2023, but he was highly active and productive with his hand in the ground as a more natural edge rusher than what he was being asked to do before standing up in the “jack” position.

To be fair, he’s not quite lived up to that five-star hype he had when he committed to the Buckeyes, but the talent and hunger is still there. So much so that Sawyer told the media on Tuesday that he’s leaning on coming back for his senior season and will also be playing in the Cotton Bowl on Friday night.

When asked about 2024 and whether he’ll be playing against Akron in the season opener, Sawyer let everyone know what he was thinking.

“I don’t know, we’ll see,” Sawyer said. “More than likely — yeah. Probably.”

Usually guys that have NFL decisions to make are pretty coy and unassuming about the questions lobbed at them, so it was a bit surprising to hear Sawyer go a little further than the boiler plate responses we’ve become accustomed too.

He’s not the only guy that we’ll be yearning to hear from from the highly ranked 2021 recruiting class after either Missouri or Ohio State are presented with a trophy, but it’s beginning to sound more and more like Sawyer and some of his classmates from the No. 2 ranked class from that cycle might be running it back one more time.

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on X.

Ohio State running back TreVeyon Henderson makes refreshing decision to play in Cotton Bowl

This is against the grain, and you have to love it. #GoBucks

In today’s day and age of NFL riches and taking care of one’s self, Ohio State running back, TreVeyon Henderson, is a breath of fresh air in a room full of smoke.

On Tuesday, Henderson confirmed that he would be in uniform and playing in the Cotton Bowl against Missouri, despite having the talent to be an early to mid-round NFL draft pick come April. That’s one whale of a weapon that will make a huge difference if the Buckeyes are to beat a very good Missouri team.

Beyond that is anyone’s guess, including Henderson, who says that he is leaning on his faith to lead him in what to do next season — whether to go on to the NFL or return to Columbus for one more season.

“I’m really just leaning on God to lead me toward my destiny and what he has planned for me,” Henderson said. “If I use my own understanding, I don’t know which way to go. So that’s why I lean on God, my father.”

And before you disregard the decision because Henderson isn’t currently projected as a first-round draft pick, we’ve seen many others jump to the NFL and sit out with less sitting on the table of fortune. In an era of “me first,” Henderson isn’t exactly putting what’s right for No. 1 ahead of everything else.

I’m not knocking others for making a different decision either. I get it. Why mortgage your future for a fairly meaningless bowl game in the grand scheme of things? However, there was indeed a time when finishing things out with your teammates was celebrated much, much more in this country of ours.

That seems to be where Henderson is. I’m sure he feels like he’s missed more than his fair share of playing time because of injury, and I’m sure he feels like he should be higher up draft boards, and that’s before we even start the conversation of what he might be getting in name, image and likeness money. Still, he’s playing. He could easily sit out, ponder the decision, and then come back, but instead, with his future unknown, he’s going to give it one more go with the “brotherhood” we hear so much about and then let the chips fall where they may.

It’s a decision as pure as “cotton,” and we’ll all be rooting for him to have a massive game and stay healthy enroute to an Ohio State victory. Win or lose, Henderson has already won the hearts of Buckeye Nation by playing Friday night.

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on X.

Watch: Ohio State football’s final game trailer of the 2023 season, the Cotton Bowl

Are you hyped up yet Buckeye fans?

The Ohio State football season is coming to an end, as they will play its final game of the season on Friday evening in the Cotton Bowl against Missouri.

As the Buckeyes social media account does every game week, they drop a hype trailer ahead of the game. This one was appropriately narrated by former Ohio State linebacker Andy “The Big Kat” Katzenmoyer.

If you are wondering why the chose No. 45, all you have to do is YouTube his monstrous hit he had against Missouri’s Corby Jones, which most like would have been targeting in this era, but the game was different back then. The hit happened in 1997, one of the last games the Buckeyes faced off against the Tigers.

Anyways, the Ohio State social media account dropped the game trailer today and it’s a doozy.

If that didn’t get you excited for tomorrow, I’m not sure what will. Go Bucks! Beat Missouri!

Contact/Follow @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. Follow Michael Chen on X.

Ohio State football: Five potential Cotton Bowl breakouts

Which Buckeyes break out in the Cotton Bowl setting themselves up for a big 2024?

Like every campaign, multiple players during the season continue to improve culminating in a big time bowl performance, this year will be no different for Ohio State.

A few years ago, it was Marvin Harrison Jr., who caught 6 receptions for 71 yards and 3 touchdowns in the highly entertaining Rose Bowl win over Utah. It paved the way for the star receiver to make a massive jump in his sophomore year, setting the stage for a Biletnikoff Award winning junior season.

There is no doubt in my mind that this will happen again for Ohio State in its Cotton Bowl showdown against Missouri. Here are my five most likely breakouts for the Buckeyes to finish the 2023 season.

Five keys to an Ohio State victory over Missouri in the Cotton Bowl

What are your keys for a Buckeye Cotton Bowl victory? Here are ours. #GoBucks

Ohio State football will look to end its season on a high note when it will face the Missouri Tigers on Friday night in the Cotton Bowl.

The Buckeyes are looking for win No. 12, and it won’t be an easy task. The Tigers had a resurgent season, going 10-2 and finishing close to the top of the SEC. Historically, Ohio State has had issues with opponents in the conference, although Missouri is an exception, with an all-time record of 10-1-1.

The last time these two took the same field, was in 1998, both teams drastically looking different since that contest. Here are five keys for the Buckeyes to continue their winning ways against the Tigers.

Know your foe: Which Missouri Tigers can give Ohio State problems?

The Buckeyes will have their hands full against Missouri. #GoBucks

The season concludes for Ohio State football on Friday night, when it faces off against the Missouri Tigers in the Cotton Bowl.

It wasn’t where the Buckeyes wanted to finish their season, but making a New Years’ Six bowl game isn’t anything to scoff at. A major bowl game against an SEC opponent could set the stage for a huge 2024.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet, as the Bucks will still have to take care of business against a very solid Tiger squad. Here are five Missouri players that could give Ohio State some problems as they look to win game No. 12 of the 2023 season.