College Football Playoff: Jack Sawyer's fumble return TD cements Ohio State's Cotton Bowl win over Texas

Ohio State will meet Notre Dame for the national title.

The Buckeyes defense stopped Texas near the goal line with less than three minutes to go as Jack Sawyer’s fumble return with 2:13 remaining gave the Buckeyes a 28-14 win over the Longhorns in Friday night’s Cotton Bowl.

Sawyer stripped Quinn Ewers on fourth down and recovered the ball himself before officially running it 83 yards for the score.

“I saw the ball pop out right to me after I tackled him and I was thinking I just gotta stay on my feet because like I said, I almost blacked out when I saw all that green grass in front of me,” Sawyer said in a postgame interview on ESPN.

Trailing by seven, Texas had first and goal from the Ohio State 1-yard line after back-to-back pass interference penalties in the end zone. Jerrick Gibson got stopped for no gain on a first down run up the middle. That led Texas to pitch it to the outside to Quintrevion Wisner on second down.

That worked out poorly. Ohio State’s defense read the pitch perfectly and stopped Wisner for a 7-yard loss. Ewers’ third-down pass to Ryan Wingo got tipped at the line of scrimmage and then Sawyer came off the edge on fourth down to clinch the game.

Ewers started his college career at Ohio State before transferring to Texas after his first and only season with the Buckeyes. Sawyer was his roommate at Ohio State.

Ohio State took a 21-14 lead with 7:02 to go when Quinshon Judkins scored his second TD of the night. That TD was the 13th play in an 88-yard drive that took nearly eight minutes. It also came after Will Howard converted a key fourth down on a QB run up the middle after Ohio State had put all of its receivers on the right side of the formation to spread the Texas defense out.

Any hope Texas had of mounting a miracle comeback disappeared just after the two-minute warning when Caleb Downs intercepted Ewers with 1:44 to go.

The Buckeyes will take on the Fighting Irish on Jan. 20 in Atlanta after Notre Dame beat Penn State 27-24 in the Orange Bowl on Thursday night. That game served as the other College Football Playoff semifinal. It will be the third meeting in four seasons between the teams and all have come in Marcus Freeman's time as the Irish's head coach. Freeman is a former Ohio State linebacker and his alma mater has won each of the previous two meetings.

Overall, Notre Dame and Ohio State have played six times. The Buckeyes are 6-0 dating back to the first matchup in 1995.

Texas kept Jeremiah Smith quiet

If you would have told Texas fans before the game that Ohio State freshman star wide receiver Jeremiah Smith would have one catch for three yards, they’d have thought Texas would be the team facing Notre Dame for the national title.

The Longhorns did a phenomenal job keeping Smith in check on three targets. Texas’ pass defense has been one of the best in the country, and they blanketed Smith after he had scored four touchdowns over the first two games of the College Football Playoff.

But as Texas had Smith covered, other players stepped up for Ohio State. Carnell Tate, the team’s No. 3 wide receiver, led the Buckeyes with seven grabs for 87 yards. And running back TreVeyon Henderson gave Ohio State the lead before halftime on a 75-yard TD on a screen pass.

Texas tied the game at 7-7 with less than a minute to go before the half. With the Texas defense playing back to prevent a big play, Ohio State ran a screen for Henderson, and he broke through his wall of blockers to head to the end zone.

It was Henderson’s only catch of the game as he rushed six times for 42 yards.

The Longhorns' best offensive weapon was running back Jaydon Blue. And not on the ground. Blue had five catches for 59 yards and caught both of Texas' touchdowns. The Longhorns had the most offensive success stretching Ohio State's defense horizontally near the line of scrimmage. Especially with wide receiver Matthew Golden limited by an ankle injury. Blue and Wisner combined to catch 11 of Ewers' 23 completions.

Ohio State’s uneven performance

The Buckeyes had been the most impressive team in the playoff through the first two rounds and looked destined for another rout in the first quarter after stopping Texas on fourth down on the Longhorns’ opening drive and then capping their own first drive with a Judkins TD.

But Texas hung around for much of the game as Ohio State’s offense wasn’t able to consistently get rolling against one of the best defenses in the country. Ohio State punted four times between touchdowns in the first half as eight consecutive drives ended in punts after Judkins’ first score.

And in the second half, Ohio State opened the third quarter with an interception and punted twice before the 13-play drive to take the lead.

Those mid-game lulls were a big reason why Ohio State had looked less than impressive at times in 2024 despite boasting a roster that could be the best in college football. But that talent is also not a surprise why the Buckeyes will play for the national title despite having two regular-season losses.