COTTON BOWL
No. 5 OHIO STATE (11-2) vs.
No. 8 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (11-2)
When: Dec. 29, 7:30 p.m. CST Site: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas TV: ESPN Outlook: Southern California leads series 13-9-1, and holds a 4-3 advantage in postseason games (all Rose Bowls between 1955 and 1985. It’s the traditional postseason matchup between the Big Ten and Pac-12 champions, only three days early and roughly 1,400 miles to the east. No matter; it still has the potential to be the best postseason matchup outside of the playoff. The Big Ten champion Buckeyes suffered one understandable loss (at home to Oklahoma) and one utterly bewildering one (55-24 at Iowa), and it was the latter setback that ultimately kept Urban Meyer’s team out of the playoff. Nonetheless, QB J.T. Barrett leads an offense that ranks fifth in the country in scoring (42.5 points per game) and sixth in total yardage (523.6 yards per game). Ohio State has won four in a row, including a 27-21 defeat of Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game, and has given up more than 21 points on just three occasions. That will pose a significant test for Southern California and QB Sam Darnold, who had an up-and-down redshirt sophomore year but ultimately led the Trojans to a Pac-12 title game defeat of Stanford. Clay Helton’s team has won five in a row since an ugly loss at Notre Dame that effectively knocked it out of the national championship discussion. The Trojans rank a middle-of-the-road 76th nationally in total defense and have held only two opponents to less than 20 points. If they are to knock off Ohio State, Darnold and TB Ronald Jones II (1,486 yards rushing) will need to be sharp against an exceptional defense.