ARLINGTON, TX — With the 88th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic between the No.7 Ohio State Buckeyes and the No.9 Mizzou Tigers hours away from kickoff at AT&T Stadium, here are my final thoughts and observations from north Texas.
1.) Mizzou seems locked and focused to make a statement. Despite being a five-point underdog, as Ohio State only allows 11.0 PPG (2nd in FBS), 259.9 YPG (3rd in FBS) this game has all the markings of an upset for the Tigers if things go their way. The vibe down here in North Texas is that Mizzou head coach Eliah Drinkwitz has his team locked in a focused on making a statement against the ninth ranked team in the country.
Covering the Tulane upset of Caleb Williams and USC here in January, I’m getting that same feeling out this Tigers team that wants to use a Cotton Bowl upset over a deflated Buckeyes team still licking their wounds after losing to Michigan for the third year in a row.
2.) Ohio State is going to miss Kyle McCord more than they realize. Not to say that Devin Brown isn’t a good QB, but he lacks real-time game experience on the road and in front of a big crowd. With Ohio State reportedly not selling all of their allotted tickets and the energy and passion that Mizzou Football fans have shown, it wouldn’t shock me if there’s at least a 50/50 fan split at Jerryworld.
Yes, while Ohio State Football fans do travel, this goes back to my aforementioned point above about the Buckeyes seemingly not having the same energy that Mizzou has brought all week down here. Marvin Harrison Jr. is still up in the air, starting safety Lathan Ransom is out it is stacking up to be a tougher than anticipated game vs. a team whose motto has been “something to prove” and winners of five of their last six games.
Look for Buckeyes offensive coordinator Brian Hartline to call some easy and quick plays for Brown which would like mean a lot of screens, three-step drops and some RPO’s to help keep Mizzou’s defense at bay. Also, don’t be shocked to see a couple of QB runs and rollouts in an effort to take advantage of Brown’s mobilty, as this game is a glorfied audition for 2024. Look for tight end Cade Stover and wideout Emeka Egbuka to be featured promiently in passing downs.
Appearing in their third Cotton Bowl, and last once since defeating incoming new B1G rival USC 24-7 back in at the conclusion of the 2017 season, the Buckeyes hope to improve on their dismal 2-10 all-time mark vs the SEC. the good news? Ohio State is 10-1-1 alltime vs. the Tigers, with their last win coming back in 1998 vs. Mizzou.
3.) One overlooked area to watch is the offensive line of Mizzou that was a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award vs. the revamped defensive line of Ohio State under second-year defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. Under Knowles, Ohio State had one of the top defenses in the country. That being said, some of those lofty numbers are a bit inflated when you play the likes of Western Kentucky and Youngstown State etc.
While many choose to have short memories, the last time we saw Ohio State’s defense, they surrendered 30 points vs. Michigan in their lone loss. How the Buckeyes start out on defense, will be a good indicator of how the game will be decided.