Ohio State won’t have to wait until August to play Texas.
The Buckeyes will face the Longhorns in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10 after both teams won their quarterfinal games on Wednesday. The Friday night game is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. ET kick at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and will be televised by ESPN.
Ohio State and Texas will both be playing their third games of the CFP in the Cotton Bowl. The eighth-seeded Buckeyes dominated No. 9 seed Tennessee in the first round and No. 1 seed Oregon in Wednesday’s Rose Bowl, while the fifth-seeded Longhorns handled No. 12 Clemson in Round 1 before escaping a scare against No. 4 seed Arizona State with a double-overtime victory in Wednesday’s Peach Bowl.
The Cotton Bowl will be the fourth all-time meeting between Ohio State and Texas. All of the three previous meetings occurred between 2005-09, with Texas holding a 2-1 advantage in the all-time series including a 24-21 victory in the most recent matchup between the Buckeyes and Longhorns in the 2009 Fiesta Bowl.
Ohio State is now scheduled to play Texas twice in the 2025 calendar year as the Buckeyes will also host the Longhorns in their regular season opener on Aug. 30 before traveling to play Texas in Austin on Sept. 12, 2026.
