On Friday evening, two of school soccer’s iconic applications will meet with a spot within the School Soccer Playoff Nationwide Championship recreation on the road.
The Ohio State Buckeyes and Texas Longhorns have their fingerprints all around the sport’s historical past but someway have squared off solely thrice.
A Fiesta Bowl assembly after the 2008 season. A house-and-home sequence in 2005 and 2006. That is all of the historical past the Buckeyes and Longhorns share on the gridiron — till they take the sphere within the CFP Semifinal on the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Basic on Friday.
Here is how every of these three matchups performed out.
Jan. 5, 2009: Texas 24, Ohio State 21
Though the 2009 Fiesta Bowl skilled a low-scoring first half-hour (the Buckeyes led 6-3 at halftime), the fourth quarter provided an ending to recollect.
First, Ohio State roared again into the lead with 17 unanswered factors after coming into the ultimate interval trailing 17-6. With simply two minutes to reply, Texas put collectively a powerful 11-play drive that culminated in quarterback Colt McCoy discovering broad receiver Quan Cosby for the profitable landing with 16 seconds remaining.
The McCoy and Cosby connection dominated all recreation, with the pair linking up 14 occasions for 171 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Sept. 9, 2006: Ohio State 24, Texas 7
McCoy’s first encounter with Ohio State wasn’t as nice because the Fiesta Bowl.
In a battle of the then-No. 1 and No. 2 groups within the land, it was the top-ranked Buckeyes who made an early-season assertion in opposition to the defending nationwide champion Longhorns on the highway in Austin. Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith, who would go on to win the Heisman Trophy that season, threw for 269 yards and two touchdowns because the Buckeyes scored in all 4 quarters of the win.
Sept. 10, 2005: Texas 25, Ohio State 22
The primary assembly between the Longhorns and Buckeyes got here with almost the identical excessive billing because the 2006 contest, with the 2 squads squaring off because the No. 2 and No. 4 groups within the nation, respectively.
As in 2006, it was the higher-ranked visiting facet that got here out on high, though the sport itself proved to be a lot nearer. Texas jumped out to an early 10-0 lead, however Ohio State battled again and finally entered halftime, after which the fourth quarter, forward.
Mentioned last quarter, nonetheless, belonged to the Longhorns. Quarterback Vince Younger’s 24-yard landing move to broad receiver Limas Sweed proved to be the winner, with Texas including some insurance coverage within the recreation’s last moments with a safety-inducing sack of Troy Smith ultimately zone.
The highest-five win was the Longhorns’ first main assertion in a marketing campaign that might finish with a nationwide championship.