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Cotton Bowl takeaways: Ohio State advances to CFP championship
Teammates celebrate a touchdown by Ohio State Buckeyes running back Quinshon Judkins (1) during the first half of the Cotton Bowl Classic College Football Playoff semifinal game against the Texas Longhorns at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Jan. 10, 2025. Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Cotton Bowl takeaways: Ohio State advances to CFP championship with another decisive win

By Adam Gretz  |  Last updated Jan 11, 2025 9:01 AM ET

The College Football Playoff championship game is set.

Thanks to Ohio State's 28-14 win over Texas on Friday night, the Buckeyes are on their way to the championship game where they will face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. 

They will have a chance to become the second consecutive Big Ten team to win it all. 

Here are some takeaways from their big Cotton Bowl win on Friday night. 

Knee-jerk reaction: Ohio State looks like the best team in the country

Yes, the Buckeyes lost two games this season.

Yes, they had horrible vibes coming into the playoffs after losing to Michigan in the regular-season finale and missing out on a chance to win the Big Ten. 

To say they rebounded from that would be a laughable understatement. After completely dominating Tennessee and Oregon in the first two rounds of the playoffs, Ohio State delivered another emphatic win in the semifinal over another top team. 

While the outcome might have still been in doubt late in the fourth quarter as Texas had the ball with a first-and-goal trailing by only a touchdown, it never really felt like Texas was going to win. The Buckeyes dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and had it not been for some careless self-inflicted penalties that hurt them in field position to stall drives, this game could have easily gotten out of hand. 

Through three playoff games, Ohio State played the No. 1 (Oregon), No. 3 (Texas) and No. 7 (Tennessee) teams in the CFP rankings. It won all three games by a combined score of 111-66. That is impressive. It should also have Notre Dame fans concerned. 

Game MVP: Jack Sawyer, defensive end, Ohio State

Ohio State's defense limited Texas to just 14 points and team captain Jack Sawyer played a significant role in that.

He also made a player that will forever be remembered by Ohio State fans with his sack, scoop-and-score in the final two minutes to put the game away. 

Game-changing play: TreVeyon Henderson's touchdown just before halftime

While Sawyer's touchdown put the game away, running back TreVeyon Henderson changed the momentum of the game just before halftime with his 75-yard touchdown that helped make up for a foolish penalty earlier in the half that helped stall an Ohio State drive.

That came with just seconds remaining in the half, and one snap after Texas had just driven to tie the game. All Texas had to do was not allow a big play. It failed. 

Worst call of the game: Texas' goal-line offense

With less than three minutes to play and trailing by a touchdown, Texas drove all the way down to the Ohio State one-yard line with the help of two consecutive pass interference penalties in the end zone. 

It seemed like it was only going to be a matter of when, and not if, Texas would tie the game.

Instead, the Longhorns faced a second-and-one from the one-yard line and instead of just trying to power it into the end zone called a toss play wide outside and got dropped for a seven-yard loss. That completely derailed the drive, and after a third-down incompletion quarterback Quinn Ewers was sacked, resulting in Jack Sawyer's scoop-and-score. 

They got too cute at a time when they just needed to be smart and physical. 

The SEC's run of dominance is over

For the second year in a row, there is no SEC team in the College Football Playoff. For the second year in a row, there is a Big Ten team and there were two Big Ten teams in the semifinals this season. The SEC might still be a great conference. It might even still be the best overall conference from top-to-bottom. But the gap between it and the other power conferences in college football is nowhere near what it used to be. 

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

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