Bucks lookin to two-step over Horns in Cotton Bowl
COVER PHOTO: OSU running back TreVeyon Henderson trots into the end zone on a 24-yard touchdown run in the 4th quarter of their first round playoff game in Ohio Stadium versus Tennessee on Dec. 21. It was the final score of the night for the Buckeyes on the way to a 42-17 win. Picture by Sam Fahmi/Columbus Wired.
Austin, Texas is the home of music.
The city long revered as the “Live Music Capital of the World” will cause some foot-stompin Friday nights with their eclectic mix of musicians in venues like Stubb’s BBQ, Parker Jazz Club and Austin City Limits, which has hosted its own show on PBS for over 50 years.
Patrons in those establishments have been two-stepping all over dance floors for years but they’re not the only ones who have been boogieing down in Austin.
Their football team has done some foxtrotting, too.
For the past 132 years, the Texas Longhorns have line danced their way to 961 wins, which is tied for fourth all-time in college football. Their 32 bowl wins rank tied-for fourth all-time in the Football Bowl Subdivision (Division 1-A).
However, the team the Longhorns are about to play on Friday night ain’t exactly been wallflowers throughout the dance. Since Ohioan and U.S. President Benjamin Harrison began his second year of the U.S. Presidency in 1890, the Ohio State Buckeyes have broken off quite a few perpetrators in the middle of their breakdancing circle.
Their 976 wins ranks two spots ahead of the Longhorns and their 998 AP poll appearances is tops in the organization’s 90-year history, outpacing seventh-place Texas by 209 total weeks. OSU can also boast twice as many national championships than their upcoming opponent with eight, but their 27 bowl wins currently sits in a tie for tenth place all time, which is six spots below Texas.
That number could change by one when all is said and done late Friday night when the Buckeyes (12-2) square up against the Longhorns (13-2) in the 89th Cotton Bowl, with the winner continuing their magical waltz into the national championship game.
For the Buckeyes, it will not only be a chance to notch their second win over UT but they’ll have a shot at knocking off the Burnt Orange and White in their home state for a second time.
The two teams have only met three times with two of those games going the Horns’ way.
The first-ever matchup came in 2005 when the pride of Austin, Tex. came north to take on the Buckeyes in Columbus. Led by quarterback and Heisman Trophy finalist Vince Young’s 370 total yards and two touchdown passes, the second-ranked Longhorns trailed the fourth-rated Buckeyes after 45 minutes of play and needed nine unanswered fourth quarter points in order to herd out of Ohio Stadium by the skin of Bevo’s hide, 25-22. They would go on to win the national championship that year, which is the last time they won it all.
The following year, top-ranked Ohio State repaid the favor as they traveled down to Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium and came away with a convincing 24-7 win over the No. 2 Longhorns. Heisman winner Troy Smith threw for 269 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions with receiver Anthony Gonzalez reeling in eight of his tosses for 142 yards and one score.
Two seasons later it was the rubber match in the 2009 Fiesta Bowl. The 10th-rated, 10-2 underdog Buckeyes were looking to play spoiler against the third-ranked, 11-1 Longhorns led by eventual 13-year NFL QB Colt McCoy. Despite trailing 17-6 entering the final 15 minutes, OSU ripped off 15 straight points to take their first lead of the game, 21-17, with 1:58 remaining.
But McCoy would prove why he was bound for the next level as he led the Horns on an 11-play, 78-yard scoring drive capped off by a 26-yard TD pass to receiver Quan Cosby with 16 seconds remaining to pull a 24-21 win out of Bevo’s hind end.
The rematch was set a few years ago when it was announced that Ohio State and Texas would enter into another home-and-home series beginning next season.
However, fate stepped in a tad early. Now the 8th-seeded Buckeyes will see if they can get some get-back from that latest defeat when they collide with the 5th-seeded Longhorns in the college football playoff semifinal in AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Tex.
Although this time around, UT will try to play spoiler despite being the higher seeded team.
That’s because OSU has looked mud-stompingly dominant in the first two rounds, while Texas looked good but not great with a 14-point win over Clemson in the first round and had to beat fourth-seeded Arizona State (a team that some felt was overmatched) in double overtime, 39-31, despite leading the Sun Devils by 18 points with a little over 10 minutes to go in the game.
Meanwhile, the Buckeyes dispatched 9th-seeded Tennessee in the first round, 42-17, and then avenged their regular season loss to No. 1 Oregon in stunning fashion by hammering the Ducks in the Rose Bowl, 41-21.
Right now, the Buckeyes are hovering around a 5.5-point favorite over the Longhorns.
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian acknowledged Ohio State’s current flexing, almost to the point of overplaying the fact OSU is only slightly favored.
“We’re going to need everything we’ve got to try and win this game. Clearly, we’re massive underdogs. Nobody’s going to give us a shot,” Sarkisian said on Sunday. “This is the best team in college football, and we’re going to have to make sure we put our best foot forward to give ourselves a chance to win the game.”
Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said his team has been highly motivated since their 13-10 loss at home against Michigan but being favored doesn’t matter to them.
“We're just going to focus on the execution and making sure that we're preparing ourselves as best as we possibly can to go play this game against these guys on Friday night. And that's it. Nothing else matters.”
Execution has been supreme for the Buckeyes on both sides of the ball. Defensively, they held both the Volunteers’ and Ducks’ offenses to season-lows in total yards. Oregon scored a season-low 21 points and Tennessee’s 17 points were the second-lowest on the year for them.
Meanwhile offensively, Ohio State’s gears have been churning at a rapid pace as their 473 yards and 42 points against the Volunteers were season-highs allowed for Tennessee’s defense. Heading into the game, the Vols were the 4th-best total and scoring defense in the country and had only been giving up 278 yards and 14 points per game.
The Buckeyes’ 41 points scored against Oregon was a season-high for the Ducks’ 11th-rated scoring defense (13.8 pts/gm) and their 500 yards posted were the second-most that Oregon’s 10th-rated total defense (301 yds/gm) had yielded all season. The most they gave up all year was 573 against Penn State in the Big Ten championship game.
Quarterback Will Howard has been a major cog in the wheel. Against Tennessee, the fifth-year senior completed 82 percent of his passes for 311 yards and two touchdowns, continuing his OSU single-season record with a seventh game of completing at least 80 percent or more of his passes.
Both games versus Oregon were nearly identical. The only caveat being they lost one by one point in Eugene, Ore. in the middle of the regular season and the other came in a blowout in Pasadena.
In October, he completed 80 percent for 326 yards, two passing scores and one more on the ground. On New Year’s Day, he completed 65 percent for 319 and three passing TD’s without any on the ground. He didn’t commit a turnover in either game and only took one sack, which was in the first game.
Howard said he’s been clicking like he has because he and his teammates have cleared their minds of worrying about “what’s next”.
“We've just got to keep playing free, playing with an edge, doing what we've been doing, and I think we're playing really good football right now,” he said. “But we've just got to keep ramping up and keep getting better and better.”
Day said it’s been the team’s bond and tenacity for wanting to play just one more week together that has propelled them to the spot they’re in. Offensive guard Luke Montgomery agreed.
“For the two (seasons) I've been on (the team), I would say this one is definitely the closest as a team,” he said. “Obviously we don't want it to end, so we have an opportunity and a chance for one more game to play, and we're going to go out and give it our all, and hopefully that's enough to get us to the next one.”
The game kicks off at 7:30 EST and will air on ESPN.