The College Football Playoff semifinals wrap up on Friday evening as fifth-seeded Texas and eighth-seeded Ohio State look to punch their ticket to the national championship with a victory in the Cotton Bowl.
This marks the fourth all-time meeting between two programs that most recently met in the 2009 Fiesta Bowl. The Longhorns hold a 2-1 lead in the series over the Buckeyes after a last-minute touchdown gave them a 24-21 victory in that game.
It will also be the first of three straight seasons in which Ohio State and Texas meet on the gridiron, as they’re scheduled for a home-and-home series that kicks off in Columbus next season and wraps up in Austin in 2026.
Despite being the higher-ranked team, the Longhorns have decided to wear their all-white road uniforms on Friday night. It’ll be their second straight game in the combination after beating Arizona State in the quarterfinals at the Peach Bowl.
Texas has a lengthy history in the Cotton Bowl, as their 23 appearances (11-10-1) are the most of any program in the country. They are 2-2 in their white uniforms in the game, with victories in 1943 and 1946 and losses in 1951 and 2000.
Ohio State, on the other hand, has played in the Cotton Bowl just three times previously (2-1), wearing their standard scarlet home uniforms in a win over USC in 2017 and a loss to Missouri last season.
The Buckeyes also notably captured the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship with a victory over Oregon at AT&T Stadium, site of tonight’s game, while wearing the home version of their “Heritage Stripes” throwback uniforms.
As for the field design for Friday night’s game, it features the Cotton Bowl logo at midfield, as well a Goodyear advertisement and the College Football Playoff semifinal wordmark at the 25-yard lines.
The end zones, meanwhile, feature a burnt orange “Texas” wordmark and a scarlet “Ohio State” wordmark next to the playoff logo on a grass-colored background, which is standard for college games at AT&T Stadium – outside of the 2015 title game, which included a black background.
Header photo courtesy of @TexasFootball on X/Twitter.
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