B1G: Ohio State was the first Big Ten school to play in the Cotton Bowl when it met Texas A&M in 1987, and Ohio State will become the first Big Ten team to play in three Cotton Bowls as a Big Ten member.

PLAYERS PLAYING
A key contingent of upperclassmen announced on Dec. 12 that they would be playing in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, including: CB Denzel Burke, WR Emeka Egbuka, CB/nickel Jordan Hancock, OG Donovan Jackson, DE Jack Sawyer, LB Cody Simon and DT Tyleik Williams. All seven players are starters for the Buckeyes. Other decisions on several key players are still TBD.

MOST NY6 APPEARANCES

• This is Ohio State’s 10th year playing in a New Year’s Six (including CFP games) post-season game, or every year since the start of the CFP era.

COTTON BOWL HISTORY

• This will be Ohio State’s third-ever trip to the Cotton Bowl. The Buckeyes are 2-0 in two previous games with wins over Texas A&M to conclude the 1986 season (the game was played on Jan. 1, 1987) and USC at the end of the 2017 season.
• Ohio State does have two other noteworthy wins at the home of the Cotton Bowl – AT&T Stadium. “Jerry World” was the site on Ohio State’s win over Oregon in the first-ever College Football Playoff national championship game as well as a 40-28 victory against No. 15 TCU early in the 2018 season.

OHIO STATE/MISSOURI HISTORY

• While this year’s Cotton Bowl will be the 13th all-time meeting between Ohio State and Missouri, the two teams have only played three times in the last 73 years.
• In 1997 and 1998, Ohio State won both games of a home and home series (31-10 in Columbia, Mo. in 1997 and 35-14 in 1998 at Ohio Stadium).
• Missouri captured a 22-21 win in Columbus in 1976, and before that the two schools met seven consecutive years from 1943-49.
• Between 1939 and 1949, Ohio State and Missouri played nine times – all Ohio State wins – with each of the games occurring in Columbus at Ohio Stadium.

OHIO STATE/MISSOURI TIES

• There is only one Missouri native on Ohio State’s roster this season: third-year linebacker Jalen Pace, who is from St. Louis and attended Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School.
• That, however, isn’t the only Ohio State/Missouri connection. Tigers offensive lineman Javon Foster is the son of Jerome Foster, an Ohio State team captain in 1982 and four-year letterwinner (1979-82). Foster still ranks No. 17 all-time with 290 tackles and ninth with 43.0 tackles-for-loss.
• Missouri WR Mookie Cooper began his career at Ohio State in 2020. He’s played in 35 games over the last three seasons for the Tigers with 77 receptions for 921 yards and one TD.

ALL-AMERICAN TRACKER

• A total of four Ohio State Buckeyes have earned All-American honors for the 2023 season.
• Highlighting the group is unanimous first-team All-American WR Marvin Harrison Jr., who was also a Heisman Trophy finalist and the winner of this year’s Biletnikoff Award.
• Harrison is just the fifth Buckeye in program history to be a two-time unanimous All-American.
• The others: OT Orlando Pace, RB Archie Griffin, HB Howard “Hopalong” Cassady and FB Bob Ferguson.

WR Marvin Harrison Jr. – First Team: CBS Sports, Walter Camp, The Athletic, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, Pro Football Focus, Football Writers Association of America, Associated Press, The Sporting News, American Football Coaches Association
CB Denzel Burke – Second Team: The Athletic, Walter Camp
LB Tommy Eichenberg – Second Team: Football Writers Association of America
DT Tyliek Williams – Second Team: Walter Camp
DE JT Tuimoloau – Second Team: American Football Coaches Association