The 2023 Cotton Bowl Classic was a

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bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

played on December 29, 2023 at

AT&T Stadium AT&T Stadium is a retractable roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL), and was completed on May 27, 2009. It is also the home of the Cotton Bowl Classic ...

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal c ...

. The 88th annual

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its Cotton Bowl (stadium), namesake ...

featured

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC) and

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

—teams selected at-large by the

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selection committee. The game began at approximately 7:00 p.m. CST and was aired on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. The Cotton Bowl Classic was one of the 2023–24 bowl games concluding the 2023 FBS football season. The game was sponsored by the

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and was officially known as the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.

Teams

The game featured

from the

and

from the

(SEC). This was the 13th all-time meeting between the Buckeyes and Tigers, with Ohio State leading the series 10–1–1. Their most recent prior meeting was September 19, 1998, a 35–14 Buckeyes win at home. Missouri's lone win came during the 1976 season.

Missouri

Missouri started the season 5–0, including a victory over No. 15

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public inst ...

on a game-winning 61-yard field goal by Harrison Mevis. The Tigers were subsequently ranked in the AP poll. However, they were defeated at home by

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

, 49–39, and three weeks later lost on the road to top-ranked

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, 30–21, ending their SEC title hopes. Missouri followed their loss to Georgia with a strong 36–7 win over

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, and ended their season on a three-game winning streak and a 10–2 record (6–2 in SEC). The Tigers entered the bowl ranked ninth in all major polls. This was Missouri's fourth Cotton Bowl Classic; the Tigers had a record of 2–1 in prior Cotton Bowls, losing the January 1946 edition and winning the January 2008 edition and January 2014 edition.

Ohio State

Ohio State entered the year looking to improve upon their 2022 season, when they received a

berth but lost to Georgia in the

2022 Peach Bowl The 2022 Peach Bowl (officially known as the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl for sponsorship reasons) was a college football bowl game played on December 31, 2022, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. Th ...

semifinal. The Buckeyes earned marquee wins over Notre Dame and

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

by margins of 17–14 and 20–12, respectively. However, in a top-three

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clash against

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

in their final game of the regular season, the Buckeyes lost 30–24 in Ann Arbor, leaving them with an 11–1 record (8–1 in Big Ten) and out of playoff contention. The Buckeyes entered the bowl ranked seventh in all major polls. This was Ohio State's third Cotton Bowl Classic; the Buckeyes won both of their prior two appearances, the January 1987 edition and December 2017 edition.

Game summary

Statistics

References

External links

Game statistics
at statbroadcast.com {{Ohio State Buckeyes bowl game navbox

Cotton Bowl Classic

Missouri Tigers football bowl games Ohio State Buckeyes football bowl games