Some of the moments that gave me Cotton Bowl mouth while the Buckeyes battled the Longhorns.
Ohio State went deep when it came to ripping out the hearts of Texas Friday night with a hard-fought 28-14 win over the Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl. While the Buckeyes hurt themselves at times, it would be wrong not to give Texas credit for a good game plan, especially against Jeremiah Smith, but ultimately Ohio State did enough to get past the Longhorns and into the national championship game against Notre Dame.
Here are the things that gave me a Texas-sized ulcer during the Cotton Bowl.
Sloopy Hang On!
After a good defensive stand to start the game, Ohio State took over on offense and drove down the field. Will Howard delivered a strike to a wide-open Carnell Tate at the goal line for an easy touchdown. The problem was that Tate dropped the ball.
These things happen sometimes, and Quinshon Judkins picked up his teammate with a touchdown run on the next play anyway, but that could have been a costly early mistake.
Be Smart
It was uncharacteristic of TreVeyon Henderson to take the bait of whatever verbal extracurriculars the Longhorns were throwing at him, but the running back’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty derailed the second OSU drive — a promising one that had started at the OSU 8-yard line.
Henderson, who had just brilliantly executed a 22-yard run to get into plus territory, was stuffed after a short gain and took exception to something, smacking defensive lineman Alex January upside the head, costing the Buckeyes 15 yards, and moving the ball from the Texas 37-yard line back into OSU territory.
The drive stalled as a result, prevented the Buckeyes from jumping on the Longhorns as they had pounced early on Tennessee and Oregon. Henderson atoned for it later in the game, but it always felt like putting Texas behind and making the Longhorn offense one dimensional could have made the proceedings a bit easier.
Stupid Pointy Ball
Caden Curry made a huge play after Ohio State’s drive stalled, sticking out a huge paw and knocking the ball out of Silas Bolden’s hands on the ensuing punt return. However, the Longhorns caught a huge break when the ball bounced perfectly back up into Bolden’s hands. A potentially monster turnover deep in Longhorn territory never materialized.
That stupid pointy ball again bounced in favor of Texas a few plays later, when Sonny Styles knocked the ball out of Quinn Ewers’ hands on a sack. Offensive lineman DJ Campbell got the benefit of the bounce, falling on the football to retain possession and allowing Texas to punt rather than Ohio State having the ball inside the Longhorns’ 15-yard line.
Of course, the stupid pointy ball evened things out in the second half, as Howard fell on his own fumble in the third quarter on a sack, and Jack Sawyer turned a strip sack into one of the most iconic plays in Ohio State history late in the game.
Flag Day
There isn’t a good time to commit a lot of penalties, but the College Football Playoff semifinals is an especially poor moment to draw a lot of flags. It was perhaps the only thing stopping the OSU offense in the first half.
In addition to Henderson’s undisciplined gaffe on the second drive, the third drive stalled due in large part to a holding penalty on Emeka Egbuka on a short pass to Smith. The wide receiver compounded a poor block by grabbing his man, knocking the offense off schedule and leading to a punt. The very next drive was undone by a holding penalty on Josh Fryar and a false start two plays later.
Critical infractions continued. Davison Igbinosun got a defensive holding penalty to help Texas move into Hail Mary territory late in the first half. Austin Siereveld got dinged for a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty after the whistle on a first down by Tate at the OSU 40 late in the third quarter. I’ll give Siereveld a break on this one because Tate was being driven backward and the whistle was late. By the time it was blown, the offensive lineman had already committed himself to trying to help his receiver out downfield.
A Fryar false start put the eventual go-ahead touchdown drive in jeopardy in the fourth quarter. Two pass interference penalties — one of them completely unnecessary due to double coverage — set up the final Texas goal-line opportunity.
The penalty parade ended with nine total enforced flags on Ohio State for 75 yards. Giving up almost an entire football field against any opponent, let alone a Top 5 team like Texas, is not a good idea. If the Buckeyes do that against Notre Dame, it may be a long night on Jan. 20.
Unimaginative
Chip Kelly got a bit conservative in the middle section of the game and it put an OSU offense that had been only stopping itself to that point in bad spots, forcing obvious passing downs that allowed Texas to bring pressure on Howard.
With 8:07 to play in the first half, Henderson ran up the middle for no gain on first down. Ohio State went three-and-out. With 3:23 remaining, it was Quinshon Judkins running straight up the middle for no gain. Again, three-and-out, but this time setting up a tying drive by Texas.
The next two drives began with passes, with Henderson taking a screen pass to the house from 75 yards away on the first, and the second moving the ball until Howard threw an interception (more on that below). Then Ohio State began with an Egbuka end around that went nowhere (three-and-out).
It just felt like the play calling was helping set up the Texas pass rush in the middle part of the game. Ohio State came out of that and eventually started moving the ball again.
The Pick
Howard made only a few mistakes in the game, but one was a critical one. Leading 14-7 and riding momentum, the Buckeyes got the ball to start the second half, and immediately started moving down the field. A 13-yard pass to Egbuka picked up a quick first down and a pair of 7-yard runs by Henderson earned another.
But then Howard got greedy on a play-action pass and tried to force a ball to Smith downfield. Locking in on Smith, he didn’t see linebacker David Gbenda drop underneath. Howard’s pass was low enough for Gbenda to leap up and snatch it, turning over the Buckeyes on a drive that could have pushed Texas to the brink.
Making matters worse were that there were open receivers on the play, including his check down man, Henderson, who almost certainly would have picked up another first down.
No Dancing
Ohio State’s defense bailed Howard out by forcing a three-and-out after the interception. The Buckeyes turned around and went three-and-out on their next possession as well, but they didn’t have to. On third-and-1, Howard handed to Judkins on the left. Texas had good pursuit, but Judkins only needed one yard.
Rather than plowing straight ahead between defenders, where getting the one yard was likely, Judkins began juking and jiving in the backfield, eventually being stopped for no gain after bouncing wide. Fast defenses kill plays like that. Sometimes lowing your head and getting what you can get is the best play, especially on third down.
Texas took advantage of the stop and scored a tying touchdown on the ensuing possession.
That’s what burnt my bacon when the Buckeyes played the Longhorns on Friday. There were more things I could point to (I was convinced Howard tackling himself in space after picking up that fourth down conversion was going to be costly, for example), but we’re already over a thousand words here. Besides, I don’t want to grumble. I want to celebrate.
And there were plenty of things to celebrate.
Aside from Sawyer’s legendary play and a goal-line stand that will be remembered forever, Donovan Jackson played brilliantly at left tackle in pass protection, Henderson averaged nearly 17 yards per touch. Howard mostly took what the defense gave him, fitting the ball into small windows in the middle of the field to Tate, Egbuka, and Gee Scott.
Next up: the Buckeyes will have to beat Marcus Freeman’s brand of Tresselball when they face Notre Dame on Jan. 20 for the national title.