The last time Ohio State faced an offense led by Steve Sarkisian, a National Championship was on the line. The stakes were nearly as high this time, but the outcome was very different.
While many anticipated last Friday's Cotton Bowl Classic to be a high-scoring affair featuring two of the best offensive minds in the sport, the defenses controlled much of this game. Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski assembled a game plan to limit Jeremiah Smith on the outside while also looking to create favorable one-on-one matchups across the line of scrimmage for his talented pass rushers.
Jim Knowles, meanwhile, brought enough change-ups to his play sheet to keep Sark off balance, often lining up in the two-high look we've grown used to seeing in the second half of Ohio State's season, but ultimately playing more single-high looks like Cover 3. But despite these well-crafted plans, both coaching staffs surely made some calls they'd like to have back, as the game was far closer than the final score might suggest.
Here's what we go over in this week's video breakdown:
- Texas' #1 priority was taking away #4 in Scarlet
- TreVeyon Henderson's 75-yard screen pass TD
- Jim Knowles constantly brought pressure from the edge
- Ohio State's instinctive safeties may have been the difference in the game
Click the header photo above to watch the video, or head straight to YouTube.
