So, today is the 88th playing of the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. Eighty-eight years holds a ton of memories.
Texas-Notre Dame in 1970, and the Longhorns’ 76-yard drive; Joe Montana, with the flu, leads the Fighting Irish over Houston in ’79; the ‘Horns losing an undefeated season to the Georgia Bulldogs in ’84; and it’ll be hard to top last year’s edition: Tulane topping Heisman Trophy-winner Caleb Williams and Southern Cal, 46-45.
This year – specifically, tonight at 7 p.m. on ESPN (and streaming online on ESPN+) – No. 7 Ohio State (11-1) will take on No. 9 Missouri (10-2) in a Big Ten-Southeastern Conference battle, the only bowl game on in prime time.
The Football Beat be there, as we’ve been at a number of bowl games this season – we’ll actually be there several times over, with photographers Alex Nabor and Jenna Lucas on the sidelines, and Mitch Lucas, covering the game.
There’s a bit of a history with these teams. Ohio State leads the all-time series with Mizzou, 10-1-1. The Tigers’ only win in the series was a 22-21 upset way back in 1976.
The Tigers, coached by Eli Drinkwitz, have a losing streak of their own: they’ve lost their last four bowl appearances.
Ohio State has a huge national presence, but isn’t the same team, some would say, as they were when the season ended. Some have left in the transfer portal, including starting quarterback Kyle McCord, who transferred to Syracuse. McCord’s departure is huge: he passed for 3,170 yards, 24 touchdowns and just six interceptions.
The Buckeyes spent some time ranked No. 1 in the College Football Playoff standings, but haven’t played since their 30-24 loss to Michigan back on Nov. 25, in Ann Arbor, their third straight loss to the Wolverines, and some say putting coach Ryan Day on the hot seat, at least a little bit.
The Buckeyes’ biggest win of the season was their 17-14 win at Notre Dame, in South Bend, with one second left. Chip Trayanum plunged into the end zone for the 1-yard score. Notre Dame was ranked ninth at the time.
More on Ohio State, courtesy of the Cotton Bowl’s information team:
This is the 11 th straight bowl game for Ohio State and their 22nd bowl in the last 24 years. It’ll be their third appearance in the Cotton Bowl Classic. Ohio State won their previous two trips: a 28-12 win over Texas A&M in the 51st Classic in 1987 and a 24-7 win over USC in the 82nd Classic to wrap up the 2017 season.
There is this: Ohio State, led then by coach Urban Meyer, won the first College Football Playoff national title game in this format, beating Oregon at AT&T Stadium in 2015.
We discussed McCord’s departure; taking his place will be sophomore quarterback Devin Brown.
The first thing most fans will notice is Brown’s number. It’s not the traditional quarterback number. Brown wears No. 33, his tribute to former TCU and Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Sammy Baugh.
It was Baugh who led TCU to a win over Marquette in the very first Cotton Bowl back in 1937.
“Devin has been doing a great job,” Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline said. “Obviously, he’s in a different role currently than maybe he has been in all year, coming back off getting a little dinged up during the middle of the season. He was gaining a lot of momentum through the season.
“But he’s having a great bowl prep. We’re excited that he’s out there. He brings a lot of good energy to practice. The guys are excited to have him running the show. But Devin has done a great job preparing for this game. He knows the importance and his work has resembled that.”
Missouri won 10 of its 12 games and finished as runner-up to Georgia in the SEC East Division. Among the Tigers’ wins this season were then-No. 15 Kansas State (30-27), then-No. 24 Kentucky (38-21), then-No. 13 Tennessee (36-7), Florida (33-31), and Arkansas (48-14).
The Tigers lost to Georgia at Athens by nine (30-21), lost at home to LSU by 10 (49-39), and didn’t play Ole Miss or Alabama.
Quarterback Brady Cook has thrown for 3,189 yards and 20 touchdowns this season, and Cody Schrader has rushed for just under 1,500 yards and 13 touchdowns on 247 carries (he’s getting right at 6 yards a carry). Wideout Luther Burden III has 1,197 yards and eight touchdowns on 83 catches this year.
Missouri’s final practice wrapped up Thursday afternoon, and Drinkwitz, who had been rumored to be on the proverbial hot seat prior to the season at SEC Media Days in Nashville, is anything but now. His Tigers have a chance to get 11 wins, take home the (somewhat-heavy) Goodyear Cotton Bowl trophy, and take down one of college football’s most storied programs.
“It’s been exactly what you would hope the bowl experience would be – a celebration and culmination of the season,” Drinkwitz said. “A lot of hard work has been put in. Now, it’s showtime for us to put on and display to the rest of the world who we really are. For this brotherhood, it’s an opportunity for us to finish the season the right way.
“It’s a chance for us to leave our legacy in Mizzou football history,” Drinkwitz said. “This is an opportunity in time we’ll never get back. So, we have to seize the moment.”
