In a few hours the Penn State Nittany Lions will take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the annual Orange Bowl game in sunny Miami, Florida. But among the thousands of Notre Dame and Penn State fans in attendance will be a few Ohio State fans – for a pretty funny reason.
Taking to X on Thursday morning, Penn State football insider Johnny McGonigal revealed that he ran into some Ohio State fans while he was in his hotel elevator. McGonigal said that he spoke to them and they explained that they “misread the bracket” and wound up booking tickets to the Orange Bowl, rather than the Cotton Bowl (where the Buckeyes will actually be playing Texas).
“Just ran into Ohio State fans in the hotel elevator. They misread the bracket and thought Ohio State would be playing in the Orange Bowl. They’ll be at Penn State-Notre Dame tonight,” McGonigal wrote.
“For those wondering, they looked like students. Said they ‘misread the bracket.’ Didn’t say if they literally misread and booked or misread how it would play out, thinking OSU would play in the Orange Bowl, and booked weeks ago. Funny either way and stunned they didn’t sell.”
For those wondering, they looked like students. Said they “misread the bracket.” Didn’t say if they literally misread and booked or misread how it would play out, thinking OSU would play in the Orange Bowl, and booked weeks ago. Funny either way and stunned they didn’t sell.
— Johnny McGonigal (@jmcgonigal9) January 9, 2025
Well, we all make mistakes from time to time. Though given how expensive tickets to a football game is, you’d think that they would have made sure to have every single crumb of information available before making a purchase that big.
It’s a bit hard to understand how they’d mess up reading the bracket though. It’s not like it had NFL-style re-seeding.
Then again, with a massive cold front set to hit Dallas for the Cotton Bowl tomorrow, maybe the Ohio State fans made the right call. Let’s be real: Would you rather be in frigid Texas where they’re bracing for frigid temperatures, or sunny Miami where the temperature rarely drops below 60?
Forget making a mistake, they might wind up making the right call after all from an enjoyment standpoint.
Related: Nasty Weather Coming To Dallas Ahead Of Texas vs. Ohio State