Every weatherman in the State of Texas is predicting a major snowstorm on Thursday. In Texas, a “major snowstorm” is like six inches of snow. While our friends in more northern climates might look at that as a slight dusting, in the southern states, that’s enough to shut almost everything down.
Texas, and other southern states, just don’t allocate a huge municipal budget for bad weather preparedness. Typically, there’s one or two winter storms a year. There isn’t a need for snowplows, sand and salt spreaders for months. Just for the one or two bad storms and everyone just stays inside. Schools close. Work cancels. Most Texans haven’t a clue how to drive in ice and snow.
The airports in Texas also struggle to deal with the bad weather. But then again, ice and snow will cancel and delay flights all over the country. That is what might give the Longhorns an advantage at the Cotton Bowl.
With the game being in Texas, there’s a mindset that UT would have a huge home crowd advantage. After all, Dallas is just 200 miles from Austin. But it was never going to be a “huge” advantage thanks to ticket allotments and the fact Ohio State fans travel well. All things being equal, the split would probably be about 60/40 in favor of UT fans.
But what if Buckeyes fans can’t travel to Texas from Ohio?
Depending on when Ohio State fans’ flights are booked, they may struggle to get to the Dallas/Fort Worth area at all. The Columbus Dispatch is warning Buckeyes fans that even though the game is indoors, getting to AT&T Stadium might be difficult. Most OSU fans would have flights booked for Thursday.
A similar situation happened in 2011 when AT&T Stadium hosted the Super Bowl. A snow and ice storm hit that week and it was an absolute mess. The Dallas area hasn’t been awarded a Super Bowl since, despite Jerry Jones’ yearly efforts to bring the game back to his stadium.
The Cotton Bowl issued a warning on Monday saying bowl officials are monitoring the situation.
“We are routinely monitoring weather reports and we are in close contact with AT&T Stadium and local officials. We always have plans for inclement weather. Should conditions warrant it, we will communicate to everyone attending and connected with this year’s Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.” – Goodyear Cotton Bowl Statement
According to AccuWeather, there is a “Winter Storm Watch” starting at Midnight Thursday morning until Friday at 6 pm CT. The game starts at 6:30 pm CT on Friday.
“Very cold with a mixture of snow and sleet, accumulating a coating to an inch; travel will be extremely difficult and dangerous.” — AccuWeather forecast for Thursday in Arlington, TX
It will be hard to get to the Dallas area and it will be hard to get around the Dallas area and to the stadium. If some Buckeyes fans can’t make it, it makes a probable 60/40 Longhorns crowd advantage into more of a 75/25.