Storied bowl rivals face off in new venue
With no playoffs or Rose Bowl, Big Ten, Pac-12 champs meet in ‘classic matchup’
ARLINGTON — Coach Urban Meyer could have easily stoked a debate about expanding the fourteam College Football Playoff after his Buckeyes were the first team left out this season.
Instead, he focused — as much as he could — on the Cotton Bowl matchup Friday night against Southern California, another conference champion.
“We’re on the outside looking in twice. We’re in the playoff twice, and twice we’re right on the edge of not being in it. If they extended the playoff ... but I don’t see that happening,” Meyer said Thursday. “College football is just hitting on all cylinders right now, so I don’t know how much I’d change.”
The Big Ten-winning Buckeyes won the first championship in the four-team CFP era three years ago. That game was at AT&T Stadium, where Ohio State (11-2) returns Friday night to play Pac-12 champion and No. 8 Southern California (11-2) in the second Cotton Bowl for both teams.
USC coach Clay Helton mostly agreed with Meyer after initially deferring to Ohio State’s coach with CFP experience to first answer the question posed about if it was time to consider an eightteam playoff.
“The playoff system has been great for our game,” Helton said. “You’re talking about two teams that were in that controversy and in that discussion right down to the end, and have the ability to have this game against two really premier teams in the country. That’s what you focus on.”
Missed out on Pasadena
Had the Rose Bowl not been a CFP semifinal this season, the Trojans and Buckeyes almost certainly would have been spending this week in Pasadena, California.
The Rose Bowl traditionally hosts the Big Ten and Pac12 champions, but this year will host Oklahoma and Georgia for a bid in the Jan. 8 title game.
Instead, the two powerhouse programs with more than 1,700 wins combined meet in another traditional bowl. The Cotton Bowl is being played for the 82nd time, the ninth since moving from its namesake stadium to the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.
This is the eighth time Ohio State and USC have played in a About the game Who: Ohio State (11-2) vs. Southern Cal (11-2). When/where: 7:30 p.m. today; AT&T Stadium, Arlington. TV/radio: ESPN; 97.5 FM. Notable: The playoff-snubbed Buckeyes take on the Trojans in a throwback to Rose Bowls past. This is the eighth postseason meeting between the two schools, and the first seven were all in the Rose Bowl, the last one 33 years ago. Big Ten champion Ohio State has not lost more than two games in any of its six seasons under coach Urban Meyer. Pac-12 champion Southern Cal is trying to reach 12 victories for the first time since 2008.
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First meeting in 33 years
The first seven were all in the Rose Bowl, the last coming 33 years ago.
“This is just a classic, classic matchup on every level,” Helton said, mentioning the schools, teams and bands. “I think it’s great for college football for this to be able to happen and to happen right here in the Cotton Bowl.”