Joel Klatt: Cotton Bowl location is keeping Ohio State vs. Texas line 'artificially low'

The Texas Longhorns will be playing in their home state in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff as they are set to face Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

Ohio State has dominated its first two opponents in the CFP, beating Tennessee and Oregon by 20-plus points each. The Buckeyes are favored to beat Texas, too, but the line is currently at 5.5 points, according to FanDuel. FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt believes the line is so low because the Longhorns are playing in the state of Texas.

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“This team is playing the best football in the country. Steve Sarkisian is absolutely right,” Klatt said of the Buckeyes on The Joel Klatt Show. “Ohio State’s favored by 5.5 in a game that’s going to be played right in the heart of Texas, which that should show everything, because let’s be honest – I feel like the line should be more. I think the idea that this is played in Dallas is keeping the line artificially low.”

Ohio State limped into the College Football Playoff as the 8 seed after dropping its regular season finale against Michigan, but the Buckeyes used their time off to regroup and get in the right mindset to go on a run.

That has clearly worked as Ohio State is playing like a team on a mission. Klatt believes the spread is too low for the way the Buckeyes have played as of late.

“I don’t look at lines right away. I always think of just like final scores. I look at the game, and then I look at the line and that kind of informs who I pick against the spread,” Klatt said. “And in this game, I can just tell you, I’m going to pick Ohio State, and I am absolutely going to take them to cover.”

Texas is far from a pushover for the Buckeyes. The Longhorns beat Clemson by two touchdowns in the opening round of the College Football Playoff, before making clutch plays in overtime to survive against Arizona State.

With that said, Klatt doesn’t believe Texas can keep up with Ohio State based on the way the Buckeyes are playing in the playoff.

“Look at what they have done over the last couple of weeks,” Klatt said of Ohio State. “Let’s get into this game. This is a matchup that I predicted would be the title game, so here they are late in the season. They were on the same side of the bracket, so we’re getting it in the semifinals.

“I believe this game will be almost won and lost in the first quarter, in that I believe Ohio State has the ability and mindset right now to go turn this into exactly what happened to Tennessee and Oregon.”