No. 7 Buckeyes Set Sights On ‘New Target’ No. 9 Missouri Ahead Of Cotton Bowl 

After the New Year’s Six bowl games were announced and No. 7 Ohio State became set to face No. 9 Missouri in the Cotton Bowl, Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz appeared on ESPN for an interview.  

As he finished speaking with Rece Davis, Drinkwitz jested that he was receiving a phone call.  

“Hey guys, I got a quick phone call,” Drinkwitz said. “Connor Stalions beeping in right here. I’m trying to get a few signals here, so I got to go, but as soon as we get done, we look forward to competing against Ryan Day and we’ll go from there.”  

The Buckeyes will face Missouri for the first time since 1998 in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 29, and while the Tigers are thrilled to compete in their first New Year’s Six bowl game of the College Football Playoff era, Ohio State is doing a bit of soul searching.  

Day said on Sunday that the Buckeyes are looking forward to playing in the Cotton Bowl, their 10th New Year’s Six game, but their third-consecutive loss to Michigan weighs heavy on their minds.  

“Not that it’s anything surprising, we know this, we talked about it last year that it can come down to a couple plays and down to the last possession or two, and extremely frustrating for everybody to not finish it the way that we wanted to,” Day said. “To not get it done, it certainly leaves a mark and it’s not something you just get over because, as we know, that’s the No. 1 goal year in and year out.” 

For Ohio State, the Cotton Bowl serves as a chance to still end this season on a winning note and extend that momentum into 2024. 

“No one’s going to feel sorry for us, so you got to push forward, that’s life,” Day said. “And so we’re going to do that, we’re going to do that. There’s always a lot of life lessons, and this is another great one for our guys to learn about how you handle yourself during adversity.” 

And for Missouri, the Cotton Bowl can be a “capstone” to a season in which not many expected the Tigers to have achieved as much as their 10-2 record in the Southeastern Conference reflects. 

“It’s just a remarkable feeling to know, you know, at the start of the year there was a poll about would we even make a bowl game. And instead, we’re a top-10 team in the country that’s going to a New Year’s Six bowl game,” Drinkwitz said. “That doesn’t happen without a lot of hard work, a lot of belief and a lot of determination, and just thanking the seniors for making that happen.” 

There’s some history between Day and Drinkwitz. 

The fourth-year Missouri head coach said he’s followed Day’s career and “the way he’s gone about his business” moving through the coaching ranks in both college and NFL. Drinkwitz said he thinks Day is “one of the elite coaches in college football.” 

Drinkwitz said he enjoys watching Day’s teams that display “the cutting edge,” and he said “it’s going to be a really tall challenge” going up against the Buckeyes. 

“Man, when you see your name up against Ohio State, again, that’s a blue-blood national brand, and to have an opportunity to play them is very special,” Drinkwitz said. “I know for me as the head football coach, in my wildest dreams I don’t know that I ever thought about being able to coach in the Cotton Bowl versus Ohio State, so it’s something that I’m going to be very, very present in and really enjoy the moment.” 

Day said the Buckeyes haven’t opened the tape on Missouri yet, but he said he expects “everybody to play” and that Ohio State “will be ready to roll” come Dec. 29. 

Day said he looks forward to “a great month of preparation” before playing the Tigers, who average 273.5 passing yards and 169.4 rushing yards per game. 

“Coach Drinkwitz is a very good coach, somebody that I’ve had communication with over the years,” Day said. “I think he does a really good job. I think they’ve had a really good season. I’ve actually followed them some this year because I know him and have a lot of respect for him, so it should be a good matchup. They’re a good team. He’s done a really good job putting that roster together, and the Cotton Bowl is a very good bowl.” 

Day said he doesn’t want to get into the hypothetical idea of a committee of quarterbacks playing in the Cotton Bowl, saying “I don’t think I’m there yet,” but added the Buckeyes will “just kind of see how practice goes” in determining the share of reps at quarterback whether Kyle McCord earns the majority. 

“I think there was a lot of really good things this year,” Day said. “I think there was growth there for sure, and I think he’s a good quarterback. I do. So you just, after every year, you kind of evaluate everything and try to figure out what to what to do next. But I think there was a lot of progress made this year.” 

Day said the Buckeyes practiced last week after the loss to Michigan and said “nobody’s hurt more than the people in this building” at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. 

Now the Buckeyes will begin work toward their new opponent with a fresh set of goals in mind. Whether some players will opt out looms large, Day and Ohio State are ready to bounce back into the win column. 

“I think a lot of our guys were certainly disappointed last week,” We had a team meeting, and we knew that there was going to be a new target this week and we weren’t sure what it was going to be. And there’s a lot of prideful guys on our team, and so they’re going to use this opportunity to either finish things out the right way or build momentum for next year.”