Ohio State head coach Ryan Day and ESPN’s Rece Davis after the 89th Cotton Bowl Classic on Jan. 10 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. (Brad Kennedy/Panola Watchman)

ARLINGTON — For the second straight year, the Texas Longhorns were in the College Football Playoff Semifinal with a trip to their first national championship game since 2010 at stake.

Last season, the Longhorns trailed 34-21 and 37-28 in the fourth quarter against Washington in the CFP semifinals and got to the Washington 12-yard line with 15 seconds remaining before dropping a 37-31 decision.

On Friday inside AT&T Stadium in the 89th Cotton Bowl Classic, Texas was once again in a position to score late in the fourth quarter to tie the game in the CFP Semifinal — this time against Ohio State. But on fourth-and-goal from the Buckeye 8, Jack Sawyer sacked Quinn Ewers, also forcing a fumble, picking it up and returning it 83 yards for a touchdown to make the score 28-14 with 2:13 remaining in the game.

That ended up being the final score as Ohio State got past Texas to earn a spot in the CFP National Championship against Notre Dame.

Ohio State grabbed an early 7-0 lead with a 9-yard touchdown run by Quinshon Judkins. That score remained until Texas scored on an 18-yard pass from Quinn Ewers to Jaydon Blue with 29 seconds left in the half, seemingly sending the game into halftime tied. However, a screen pass from Will Howard to TreVeyon Henderson went 75 yards to give the Buckeyes a 14-7 halftime lead.

The Longhorns tied the score at 14 with 3:12 remaining in the third quarter on a 26-yard completion from Ewers to Blue. A 1-yard touchdown run by Judkins with 7:02 left in the contest put the Buckeyes ahead 21-14.

A 34-yard pass from Ewers to Gunnar Helm put Texas in Ohio State territory, and Ewers followed with a 27-yard completion to Matthew Golden to put the Longhorns at 1st and 10 at the Ohio State 13 with 5:30 remaining.

The Longhorns eventually had third and 3 at the Buckeye 6-yard line, but a pass interference penalty gave Texas the ball at the 2-yard line and a fresh set of downs. Another pass interference made it first and goal at the 1-yard line with less than four minutes to play.

Jerrick Gibson was stopped for no gain. The Longhorns then tried to run outside and Quintrevion Wisner was stopped for a loss of seven yards. An incomplete pass set up the fourth-down play where Sawyer had a strip sac on his former roommate, Ewers, and returned it to the other end zone for the game-sealing score.

“Hell of a football game,” Texas head football coach Steve Sarkisian said. “Two really good teams battling. They made two big plays, you know? They hit the screen at the end of the first half and got the sack fumble on fourth down there for a touchdown.

“Two really good teams. Ton of credit to Ohio State. They’re a very good football team, well-coached, hard-fought game. I’m really proud of our players for the resiliency they showed tonight to fight back to get into the game, to have an opportunity first to go on the one and weren’t able to put it in. So as I told them, today’s game is the life of a competitor. You put yourself in this arena. You compete your tail off. But we have nothing to hang our heads about, by the way they competed, not only tonight but this entire season.”

“Yeah, you know, it’s tough,” Ewers said. “I think Coach Sark hit it. It’s the life of a competitor. It sucks being on this side of things, for sure. I mean, back-to-back years pretty much a game decided in one play, and it’s hard. All the work that we put in, being in the final four back-to-back years and coming up short two years, it’s tough. But I think that’s how life is. You’re going to get punched in the face in some hard moments.”

TEXAS

While the Longhorns haven’t won a national championship since 2006 (2005 season) and haven’t played in a title game since 2010 (2009 season), the past two seasons have been a huge step in the right direction.

After posting just one season of double-digit victories from 2010-22 — a 10-4 season in 2018 that ended with a Sugar Bowl win over Georgia — in a span that included five losing seasons, Texas has won 25 games the past two seasons and advanced to two straight CFP Semifinals, once in the four-team playoff format and this year in the 12-team playoff format.

“There’s so many great things that this season possessed that — yeah, it hurts, it stings right now, but I’m not going to let this one game and a couple plays overshadow what we were able to accomplish this season,” Sarkisian said. “Yes, we want to be champions. That’s what life is about. You always want to come out on top. But there’s so much that we can learn from this season, and there’s so much to be proud of from this season.”

OHIO STATE

The Buckeyes lost to rival Michigan for the fourth year in a row on Nov. 30, 2024, and Ohio State fans acted like the world had ended, and many people had declared this would be the end of the Ryan Day era as head coach at Ohio State.

Since then, Ohio State has had playoff wins over Tennessee (42-17), No. 1 Oregon (41-21) and then Texas (28-14) and will face Notre Dame in the CFP National Championship Game on Jan. 20 in Atlanta.

“I think we talk about those things because our story has been — the last couple years has been ups and downs,” Day said. “But to see the team play the way that they did in the fourth quarter today, I think that’s why that’s relevant. That’s why we’re talking about it. Because I don’t think without going through those things, we would have come through the way we did in the fourth quarter. And now we have the opportunity to play for a national championship, and I couldn’t be prouder of our guys, couldn’t be. But we’ve got to finish this thing, and they know it. They know it, because there’s so many great stories to be told.”

Ohio State has now won double-digit games in 12 of the last 13 seasons — with the only exception being in the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season — and in 18 of the last 20 seasons.

The Buckeyes last played in the CFP National Championship in 2021 (2020 season), losing to Alabama (52-24). The Buckeyes’ last national championship victory came over Oregon (42-20) in the 2015 CFP National Championship game (2014 season).

KILGORE COLLEGE RANGERETTES

The 2025 game marked the Rangerettes’ 75th consecutive appearance at the Cotton Bowl. Current Rangerettes showcased their traditional high kick, while alumnae learned choreography to be performed by women ranging from their early 20s to age 93. That most senior dancer, from the 11th line of the Rangerettes, performed at the Rangerettes’ first Cotton Bowl Classic appearance.

Returning alumni represented 33 states and 275 cities.

ESPN’s Dave Wilson, a Kilgore native, was on the The Paul Finebaum Show as the Rangerettes were rehearsing Friday afternoon inside AT&T Stadium and informed Finebaum of the Rangerettes’ history.

OTHER NOTES

— Sawyer’s 83-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown was a new Cotton Bowl record, breaking the record set by Missouri’s Shane Ray of 73 yards against Oklahoma State in 2014.

— Ohio State moved to 4-1 at AT&T Stadium, while Texas fell to 2-3 in the venue.

— Ohio State quarterback Will Howard won the Sanford Trophy for the game’s Outstanding Offensive Player after going 24 of 33 for 289 yards and a touchdown.

— Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer won the McKnight Trophy (Outstanding Defensive Player) after having three tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss, two pass breakups, two quarterback hurries, a forced fumble and the fumble recovery for a touchdown.

— The announced attendance for Friday’s game was 74,527.