Defending national champion Ohio State to 3rd straight Cotton Bowl, will face Miami or Texas A&M

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) – Defending national champion Ohio State is going to the Cotton Bowl for the third year in a row, this time for a College Football Playoff quarterfinal game on New Year’s Eve against Miami or Texas A&M.

The Big Ten runner-up Buckeyes (12-1) won their CFP semifinal last January at the Cotton Bowl over Texas, then went on to beat Notre Dame for the national championship.

Ohio State got a first-round playoff bye when the final CFP rankings that came out Sunday, a day after its 13-10 loss to undefeated Indiana in the Big Ten championship game Saturday night. The Hoosiers had been No. 2 in the penultimate CFP rankings, but flipped spots with the previously top-ranked Buckeyes in both those and the new AP poll.

Seventh-ranked Texas A&M (11-1) from the Southeastern Conference and No. 10 Miami (10-2), the only playoff team from the Atlantic Coast Conference, both got at-large playoff berths after missing out on their conference championship games. They will play in College Station on Dec. 20, the first of three CFP games that day.

The Aggies, who would remain in their home state for a second-round game if they win, won their first 11 games this season before losing at Texas in the regular-season finale. They are one of five SEC teams in the 12-team playoff bracket.

Miami, which got into this year’s field over Notre Dame, finished the regular season with a four-game winning streak since an overtime loss Nov. 1 at SMU, a playoff team last season. The Hurricanes and Mustangs were part of a five-way tie for second place in the ACC standings with two league losses each. Duke, with five losses overall, won that tiebreaker and then beat Virginia in the league championship game.

When Ohio State lost 14-3 to Missouri in the Cotton Bowl at the end of the 2023 season, it wasn’t a playoff game. The Buckeyes were without two-time AP All-America receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. receiver, who opted out of the game before declaring for the NFL draft, and starting quarterback Kyle McCord after his departure for Syracuse.

Ohio State’s other Cotton Bowl appearances were wins over Southern California at the end of the 2017 season and a 28-12 win over Texas A&M on New Year’s Day 1987.