“The story of this team is yet to be told,” Ohio State’s head coach Ryan Day said after the Buckeye’s 28-14 Good Year Cotton Bowl win over the Texas Longhorns on Friday night. He’s correct. Ohio State’s 2024 storybook season still has one chapter left before publication, the National Championship game against Notre Dame.
Friday was Ohio State and Texas’s fourth meeting overall, and it featured two of the top three defenses in college football. Fittingly enough, Ohio State’s defense, the top-ranked in the nation, sealed the win in a back-and-forth heavyweight match.
Texas began the night with the ball, and on a crucial third down, Matthew Golden snatched a one-handed grab from Quinn Ewers. However, Texas couldn’t convert a 4th and 3 at the Buckeyes’ 36, and Ohio State turned Texas over on downs in their first defensive possession. Following the defensive stop, Ohio State moved the ball on a 10-play and 64-yard touchdown drive aided by two third-down conversions. Quinshon Judkins capped the drive, bulldozing the Texas defense on a 9-yard power run.
After the Buckeyes forced Texas to punt around midfield, Ohio State moved the ball again inside Texas territory. The drive stalled because of a TreVeyon Henderson unsportsmanlike penalty, eventually resulting in an Ohio State punt.
The second quarter featured a total of seven straight punts, including Ohio State punting on the first play of the quarter. Ohio State committed three penalties in two of those possessions, stalling each of those drives. A short Joe McGuire punt had Texas start at their 41. On a 4th and 1, the Longhorns turned to Arch Manning, who took it to the right side to pick up the first down. Ewers elevated a pass to Jaydon Blue in the left-side corner of the end zone to even the game up with around 30 seconds left in the half.
“I felt like we were stopping ourselves on offense with penalties. That was the conversation that we had on the sideline and in the locker room at halftime. We got to stop hurting ourselves with penalties,” Buckeyes coach Day said.
On the first play of the next possession, Will Howard found Henderson a screen, and TreVeyon busted it down the field for a quick 75-yard score, canceling out the previous Longhorns score. That one play equaled 2/3 of Ohio State’s second-quarter total yards (the previous 11 plays picked up 38 yards), and the Buckeyes led 14-7 at the break.
“I don’t think anyone thought that that was going for 75 yards,” Howard smirked. “That was to set something up. That’s kind of a drive starter in that two minute scenario and if you gt a positive gain, [then] we can continue to work out two minute drill. Carson Hinzman made some unbelievable blocks down the field, the receivers stayed on their guys, and [Henderson took off.”
To start the second half, Texas’ David Gbenda jumped a pass route intended for Jeremiah Smith, keeping the Longhorns’ streak of 24 straight games with at least one takeaway, the longest active FBS streak. The Longhorns couldn’t capitalize on the turnover, punting on a five-play drive.
On the next possession, Texas moved the ball with four third-down conversions. On the fourth third-down conversion, Ewers found Blue again a few yards short of the end zone. Blue made a move and lunged to the end zone to even the game up at 14.
Ohio State dominated the first half of the fourth quarter. They drove down on a 16-play drive, including a fourth-down conversion on a keeper by Howard, who tripped under his own feet. The Buckeyes later scored by Quinshon Judkins on a drive that took eight minutes off the clock and put Ohio State up 21-14.
On Texas’ following possession, Ewers found Golden for 27 yards, putting the Longhorns inside the red zone. Thanks to a couple of Ohio State pass interference penalties, they were at the Ohio State 1-yard line. Unfortunately for Texas, Ohio State plugged the middle up, and their penetration pushed Quintrevion Wisner back to the eight on a second-and-goal play call.
“When we got down to the one, we went to a heavy package, which is Jerrick’s package. We ran it, and we obviously didn’t get much movement at all. And we had a plan to try to get the ball on the edge when we got down there. They went to big people. I can’t quite tell. It was on the far side where it got leaky. But that’s one of those plays, if you block it all right, you get in the end zone, and we didn’t, and we lose quite a bit of yardage,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said regarding the first and second down playcalls.
On 4th down, Ohio State’s Jack Sawyer, Ewers’s former roommate, forced a fumble and returned it 83 yards to put the game out of reach and clinch Ohio State’s trip to Atlanta for the National Championship Game.
I felt [Sawyer],” Ewers said “I started drifting away. I thought I was going to be able to get the ball off before he got there.”
For the Longhorns, it’s been two consecutive seasons since Texas fell short of a national title. In 2023, it was the 37-31 loss to Washington in the Sugar Bowl, and in 2024-2025, it was the 28-14 loss against Ohio State.
“All the work that we put in, being in the final four back-to-back years and coming up short two years, it’s tough,” Ewers said. “But I think that’s how life is. You’re going to get punched in the face in some hard moments.”
For Ohio State, they will go for their ninth national title and their first in ten years against the Fighting Irish, and what coach Day said multiple times after Friday’s win, “It’s not finished.”
