Another huge Cotton Bowl for Buckeyes

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Cotton Bowl has certainly gotten much more significant for Ohio State during three trips in a row to the game. This time, the second-seeded Buckeyes (12-1) are defending national champions as they get ready to play College Football Playoff first-timer Miami (11-2, CFP No. 10 seed) in a quarterfinal game there Wednesday evening. The Cotton Bowl last January was a CFP semifinal game when Ohio State beat Texas for the third of four wins needed last postseason for a sixth AP national title. As for the first of those appearances in North Texas two years ago, that was the last season before the CFP expanded from four to 12 teams and when it wasn't the Cotton Bowl's turn as one of the playoff games. The Buckeyes arrived then coming off a regular season-ending loss to rival Michigan after a 10-0 start. Their starting quarterback (Kyle McCord) had transferred and NFL-bound All-American receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. opted out of playing in what was a 14-3 loss to Missouri. "Just more stakes than the first game I've ever played in here... Now it's a bowl game with the playoffs on the line, so it just means more," senior receiver Carnell Tate said Monday on the field at AT&T Stadium. Ohio State hasn't played since losing 13-10 to No. 1 Indiana in the Big Ten Championship Game matchup of undefeated teams Dec. 6 and still got a first-round bye. "It wasn't CFP, so I felt like the job was not accomplished. We kind of fell short of our initial goal, and then when we played here, our quarterback ended up transferring. It was a whole lot of stuff going on," senior cornerback Davison Igbinosun said. "It was definitely a tough game. It really didn't feel like a typical Ohio State game, and then here last year and back in the playoffs, and that was a great game." Miami, which is 24 years removed from its last national title, made its CFP debut with a 10-3 win in the first round at No. 7 seed Texas A&M on Dec. 20. The Hurricanes made the 12-team playoff field even after not making the Atlantic Coast Conference title game and that league's champ (five-loss Duke) not getting a bid. When the Hurricanes left Dallas after a 26-20 overtime loss at SMU on Nov. 1, their second loss in three games after a 5-0 start, they weren't even sure they would make the playoff. Now, they are back in Texas for their second playoff game in a row and with another five-game winning streak. "That was a low point for us in the season, and in that locker room, it was as simple as a decision has to be made," Miami coach Mario Cristobal said Monday. "It came down to the simplicity of taking all the clips of us in our first five games and putting it on a reel and just letting it play. No audio, no one's talking, no nothing. Just shut the lights, remind ourselves of who we are. And there's nothing more powerful than the power of choice." Champion QBs Heisman Trophy finalist Julian Sayin with Ohio State and Miami's Carson Beck have both been part of national championship teams. Now the two most accurate FBS passers are trying to win a title as a starting quarterback. Sayin was the Buckeyes backup last year behind Will Howard. Beck transferred to Miami after being at Georgia from 2020-24, when he was a youngster on the Bulldogs' back-to-back national championship teams in 2021 and 2022 — he did get some late snaps in that second title game, a 65-7 romp over TCU. The Cotton Bowl will be the first CFP game for Sayin, the sophomore who has thrown for 3,323 yards with 32 touchdowns and six interceptions. He has completed 78.4% of his passes (279 of 356). Beck made his first CFP start going 14-of-20 for 103 yards and a touchdown on a windy day in College Station. He has completed 74.5% of his passes (277 of 372) for 3,175 yards, 26 TDs and 10 interceptions. Back to back? Miami's last shot at back-to-back national championships ended in a double-overtime loss to Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 3, 2003, before most of the current players were born and the only other time these teams have met in a bowl game. Ohio State, which won the first CFP national championship at AT&T Stadium at the end of the 2014 season, is now trying to win consecutive national titles for the first time. The Buckeyes are in their seventh CFP overall, and are the only team to appear in five of the last seven — all of those since Ryan Day became their head coach. The only other time the Hurricanes played in the Cotton Bowl was at the end of the 1990 season, their last as an independent before moving to the Big East. They beat Texas 46-3 in Cotton Bowl Stadium.