The eyes of the college football world will all be on Ohio State and Texas Friday night at AT&T Stadium in the 2025 Cotton Bowl and College Football Playoff semifinal.
It’s a matchup between two of college football’s titans that are coming off an upset victory over No. 1 Oregon and No. 4 Arizona State respectively in the CFP quarterfinals. It’s also a semifinal that includes an intriguing wide receiver-cornerback matchup in Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith and Texas’ Jahdae Barron.
But those aren’t the only thing being zeroed in on: how will Ohio State handle a neutral site atmosphere that is expected to have a heavy presence of Longhorns fans.
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Friday’s CFP semifinal will be the second straight (fourth overall) Cotton Bowl appearance for the Buckeyes, and their fifth overall appearance to AT&T Stadium. Ohio State, who is 3-3 in the CFP all-time under Ryan Day, is 3-1 in games at AT&T Stadium.
With that, here’s what to know on why Ohio State is taking on Texas in the Cotton Bowl, which is being held in The Lone Star State and at AT&T Stadium:
Why is Ohio State playing Texas in the Cotton Bowl?
To put it bluntly, it’s out of Ohio State’s control.
By being placed on the top half portion of the 12-team CFP bracket, the Buckeyes were penciled into playing in the CFP Cotton Bowl semifinal should they have advanced past the CFP first-round and quarterfinal rounds.
If Ohio State, which missed out on playing in the Big Ten championship game and made the CFP as an at-large team, was seeded at No. 6, No. 7, No. 10 or No. 11 the Buckeyes would have been sent to the Orange Bowl for their semifinal game. However that was not the case, as Ohio State was slotted in as the No. 8 seed and earned a first-round home game vs. No. 9 Tennessee.
Additionally, as noted on the College Football Playoff website, the highest seed received preferential placement for the CFP semifinal bowl assignment. In other words, Oregon, which Ohio State defeated in the Rose Bowl, was assigned to play at the Cotton Bowl compared to the Orange Bowl for its potential semifinal bowl game as the No. 1 seed on Selection Sunday.
Friday’s CFP semifinal will be Ohio State’s fifth game at A&T Stadium, and third with Day serving as the Buckeyes’ coach (both interim and full-time). But despite familiarity with the stadium and the bowl game itself, Day didn’t put too much stock into those factors when asked about them during his initial Cotton Bowl news conference.
“There’s a lot of history there, and I don’t think that really has anything to do with anything, quite honestly. We’ve got to go play on the field, but it’s a great venue,” Day said on Jan. 3. “We’ve had a lot of great games there, and I know we have great fans in the Dallas area and throughout Texas. And so we know it’s going to be a great atmosphere.”
How far is Texas football from AT&T Stadium?
According to Google Maps, it is a three hour and 13 minute drive (200.0 miles) from Texas’ campus in Austin, Texas to AT&T Stadium, which is located right outside the Dallas-Forth Worth International Airport.
To compare, AT&T Stadium is near 16 and a half hour drive from Ohio State’s campus in Columbus, Ohio.
All told, a much closer neutral site “home” game for Texas than Ohio State.
Ohio State-Texas Cotton Bowl time
Ohio State and Texas will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 10 in the 2025 Cotton Bowl and the second CFP semifinal in Arlington, Texas at AT&T Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys.
Ohio State record in Cotton Bowl
Ohio State enters Friday’s CFP semifinal game vs. Texas with a 2-1 record in its previous three Cotton Bowl appearances.
Here’s a game-by-game breakdown of how the Buckeyes have fared in past Cotton Bowls:
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Jan. 1, 1987: Ohio State 28, Texas 12
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Dec. 29, 2017: Ohio State 24, USC 7
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Dec. 29, 2023: Missouri 14, Ohio State 3
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Why is Ohio State playing Texas in Cotton Bowl for the CFP semifinals?
