By Danielle Daniels

1 10 2025

FIRST AND TEN

• The Ohio State Buckeyes (12-2 overall; CFP No. 8 Seed) and the Texas Longhorns (13-2; CFP No. 5 Seed) will meet at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas for the 2025 College Football Playoff Semifinal at the 89th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic Friday, Jan. 10.
• Game time is set for 6:30 p.m. CST / 7:30 EST with ESPN televising the game nationally.
• The winner advances to the 2025 CFP championship game Monday, Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta against the winner of Thursday evening’s Orange Bowl between Notre Dame and Penn State.
• All four teams still in contention won first-round CFP home games and then defeated higher seeded opponents in the quarterfinals at the four bowl sites.
• Ohio State is 2-2 against SEC-member institutions in CFP games: a 42-35 win over No. 1 Alabama in 2014; a 52-24 loss to No. 1 Alabama in 2021; a 42-41 loss to No. 1 Georgia in 2022 and a 42-17 win over No. 9 Tennessee Dec. 21 at Ohio Stadium.
• Ohio State and Texas kick off the 2025 season Aug. 30 in Ohio Stadium.

BY THE NUMBERS
3x: Ohio State and Texas have played three times. Two of three contests were one-score games: Texas won in 2005 at Ohio Stadium, 25-22; Ohio State won in Austin in 2006, 24-7; and Texas won at the 2009 Fiesta Bowl, 24-21.

12: Not including the shortened, 2020 Covid-19 season, Ohio State has 12 consecutive seasons with at least 11 wins … the longest streak in the nation. Georgia is second with seven consecutive 11-win seasons.

6 of 11: Ohio State is in the College Football Playoffs for the sixth time in the CFP’s 11-year existence. Head coach Ryan Day is the only active coach to have led his program into the CFP four times since 2019.

31st: Ohio State has now had 31 10-win-or-more seasons in school history, fourth-most in major college football history. Head coach Ryan Day has coached five such seasons in this, his sixth season as coach.

JT, JACK AND COMPANY
Ohio State’s defensive line has recorded 30.5 of the team’s 47 quarterback sacks this season with JT Tuimoloau leading the way with 10.0 sacks. Jack Sawyer is next with 8.0 sacks. The 47 sacks rank third nationally and are tied for second all-time at Ohio State with the 1998 and 2000 teams. Ohio State’s single season sacks record is 54 by the 2019 team.

FOURTH COTTON BOWL CLASSIC

• This CFP semifinal game is Ohio State’s fourth game at the Cotton Bowl.
• The Buckeyes are 2-1 all-time in Cotton Bowls with wins over Texas A&M, 28-12, to conclude the 1986 season (the game was played on Jan. 1, 1987) and USC, 24-7, at the end of the 2017 season, and a loss to Missouri last year, 14-3.

OHIO STATE 3-1 AT AT&T STADIUM

• Ohio State has a 3-1 record in games at AT&T Stadium, including a win over Oregon in January 2015, 42-20, to win the inaugural College Football Playoff after defeating Alabama in the opening round, 42-35.
• Ohio State’s other games at AT&T stadium resulted in a 24-7 win over USC in 2017, a 40-28 win over TCU in a 2018 game in which Ryan Day was interim head coach, and the loss to Missouri last year.

SIXTH CFP FOR OHIO STATE

• Ohio State is playing in the College Football Playoffs for a sixth time since the start of the CFP era in 2014.
• Ohio State is the only school to appear in four of the last six CFPs.
• Ohio State is No. 3 all-time in CFP appearances, trailing only Alabama (eight appearances) and Clemson (seven).
• Georgia and Oklahoma round out the Top 5 with four CFP appearances apiece.
• Ohio State won the inaugural College Football Playoffs in 2014 and is 5-4 all-time in CFP games.

OHIO STATE EVENS BOWL RECORD

• The win over Oregon at the Rose Bowl has evened Ohio State’s all-time bowl game record at 26-26.
• The rich history of Ohio State football includes, officially, 52 prior bowl games starting with the 1921 Rose Bowl and including 12 different bowls and 38 games played at the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, Cotton, Orange and Peach bowls, respectively.

OHIO STATE’S CFP SO FAR

• Ohio State has jumped out to 14-0 and 21-0 first quarter leads over Oregon and Tennessee, respectively, while the Ohio State defense has forced three-and-outs on each of the opponents’ first two possessions.
• Ohio State has amassed 973 yards of offense in the two games with 318.0 passing yards per game and 168 rushing yards.
• The defense has allowed just 266.0 yards per game in the CFP, including -23 yards rushing by Oregon and 201.5 passing yards per game.
• Cody Simon has led the team in tackles in both games with 12 vs. Tennessee and 11 vs. Oregon.
• Will Howard has thrown for an average of 315 yards in the two games with five touchdowns and one interception.
• Jack Sawyer has batted down five passes at the line of scrimmage and has recorded 3.5 QB sacks.
• JT Tuimoloau has 5.5 TFLs in the two CFP games, including 4.0 sacks.
• The minus-23 yards rushing the defense denied the Ducks: the fewest yards allowed in 55 years, or since the 1969 team held Northwestern to minus-29 yards.
• Ohio State tied its season high with 13 TFLs vs. Oregon while the eight QB sacks was a season high and a 48-game team high, or since recording 10 vs. Akron in 2021.
• The last time Ohio State had at least eight sacks vs. a Power 4 team: 2017 with eight vs. USC at the Cotton Bowl.

COURTESY OHIO STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

COURTESY TEXAS ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS