Scarlet Sunrise: Buckeyes set to arrive in North Texas for Cotton Bowl

COLUMBUS — Ohio State is one of four teams still alive in the chase for the College Football Playoff national championship.

The Buckeyes are taking to the sky on Wednesday afternoon for their flight to North Texas for the Cotton Bowl semifinal against Texas. Following a practice at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, the team will travel to Dallas and then make their way to the team hotel ahead of Friday’s semifinal against the Texas Longhorns.

Ohio State has completely dominated the first two rounds of the CFP, obliterating Tennessee in the Horseshoe before easily beating No. 1 seed Oregon in the Rose Bowl quarterfinal last week.

Texas might prove to be the toughest challenge yet, though. That will be revealed on Friday.

With bad weather slated to hit the area on Thursday, Cotton Bowl officials are still planning to have the game played Friday — with both teams arriving Wednesday.

For now, the Buckeyes are making their way to Texas on Wednesday for the business trip of a CFP semifinal.

ICYMI: Quinn Ewers talks about time with Buckeyes

Everyone remembers that unforgettable four months Quinn Ewers spent at Ohio State during the 2021 season — when he enrolled in August and transferred to Texas after the regular season.

Ewers transferred to Texas for many reasons for his final four years of college football — after he reclassified into the 2021 recruiting class and came to Ohio State a year earlier than expected.

The former No. 1 overall prospect from his class finally spoke about all of those decisions he made during that time.

“One of the main things was that the Texas legislature wasn’t going to allow Texas high school footballl players to be paid,” Ewers said via On3’s Inside Texas. “Me and my family had a pretty big opportunity in front of us, we felt like it was a good decision for me to forego my senior year and enroll early at Ohio State. I had the opportunity to have some good money in our pockets as a family.”

Ewers made quite a bit of money at Ohio State during that one year, but he also learned a lot about football. He said he doesn’t regret how he handled that year with the Buckeyes or transferring to Texas ahead of the Longhorns and Buckeyes’ Cotton Bowl semifinal matchup in Arlington, Texas, on Friday night.

“Learned a lot when I was there under Coach Day and CJ Stroud,” Ewers said. “Super thankful for that time that I got to spend there. Like I said, I learned a whole lot. So I don’t regret any decision I’ve made on going or anything like that, but the main reason I went was I felt like I had a great relationship with the coaching staff, and they were winning a lot of games I wanted to go be part of something like that.

“The reason I came back to Texas was to be closer to the resources that I have and the relationships that I’ve built over time just being from Texas.”

ICYMI: Buckeyes land commitment from Duquesne transfer LB Ty Howard

COLUMBUS — Ohio State has added another piece to its 2025 roster as the transfer portal cycle continues.

For the second time, the Buckeyes are dipping down to the FCS ranks for a talented and intriguing defender. They added former Idaho State star defensive end Logan George a couple of weeks ago. Now they’ve also added former Duquesne star linebacker Ty Howard.

Howard announced his commitment to the program on Sunday evening.

The Cleveland native earned All-NEC honors this season for Duquesne after posting 52 tackles, 7 tackles for loss, 4 sacks and 3 interceptions. Howard will have two more seasons of eligibility for the Buckeyes.

Counting down

Ohio State vs. Texas in Cotton Bowl: 2 days
Ohio State at Michigan: 323 days

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