COLUMBUS, Ohio — Missouri is headed to its first New Year's Six bowl in nine seasons, where it will face No. 7 Ohio State — in its 11th in a row — at the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 29.
The ninth-ranked Tigers (10-2, SEC) have 10 wins for the first time since the 2014 season, when they won the Citrus Bowl. This was their first winning record in five seasons, including 6-7 in each of the last two years after bowl losses.
“It’s been some tough sledding here for my first three seasons and for our senior class to get this opportunity to win 10 games, to get a New Year’s Six bowl game,” Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz said ESPN's bowl selection show. “It just reminds them that it’s worth it: the hard work, the dedication, the long hours, the hard practices.”
Coach Ryan Day's Buckeyes (11-1, Big Ten) were undefeated until their 30-24 loss to Michigan in Ohio State's regular-season finale Nov. 25. The Wolverines went on to win the Big Ten championship and were the No. 1 team in the final College Football Playoff rankings released Sunday.
During their streak of NY6 games, the Buckeyes won the first CFP championship game 42-20 over Oregon at the end of the 2014 season at AT&T Stadium, the home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys where the Cotton Bowl is played.
Ohio State has a 10-1-1 series record against Missouri, but is 2-12 against Southeastern Conference teams in bowl games. That includes last year's 42-41 loss to Georgia in the CFP semifinal Peach Bowl.
The Buckeyes and Tigers haven't played since 1998, when Ohio State won 35-14 at home. This will be their first postseason meeting.
CATCHING THE BALL
Ohio State standout junior Marvin Harrison Jr. and Missouri sophomore Luther Burden are two of the nation's leading receivers.
The 6-foot-4 Harrison has 67 catches for 1,211 yards and is tied second nationally with his 14 touchdowns. He is averaging 100.9 yards per game receiving, which ranks ninth.
Burden is 10th at 99.8 yards per game, only three total yards from a triple-digit average. He has 83 catches for 1,197 yards and eight touchdowns.
WALK-ON TO TOP RUSHER
Former walk-on Cody Schrader, a super senior who began his career at Division II Truman State, is now the nation's leading rusher for Missouri.
Schrader averages 124.9 yards per game, nearly 30 yards more than any other SEC player, while running for 1,499 yards and 13 touchdowns. He has TDs in nine consecutive games, and his fifth consecutive 100-yard game was a season-high 217 in the regular-season finale at Arkansas.
He joins Oklahoma State's Ollie Gordon II and North Carolina's Omarion Hampton as finalists for the Doak Walker Award that goes to the nation's top running back. Gordon led the nation in rushing before being limited to 34 yards on 13 carries against Texas in the Big 12 championship game Saturday, dropping his season average to 124.2.
RISING TIGERS
Missouri has won its last three games since a 30-21 loss at then-No. 1 Georgia, the only team to finish ahead of the Tigers in the SEC East. They are 3-2 vs. Top 25 teams, the other loss being to then-No. 23 LSU.
The last time Missouri had been in the Top 10 was when being fifth in the final AP poll of the 2013 season, when the Tigers finished 12-2 after a 41-31 win over Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl.
COTTON HISTORY
Ohio State beat Southern Cal 24-7 in the Cotton Bowl at the end of the 2017 season. The Buckeyes' only other Cotton Bowl was New Year's Day 1987, a 28-12 win over Texas A&M (then in the Southwest Conference) in the game's former home and namesake stadium. ... The Tigers are going to their fourth Cotton Bowl. They also beat Arkansas on New Year's Day 2008, and lost to Texas in the 1946 game.
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Ohio State's 2023 schedule:
- Sept. 2 – at Indiana | W 23-3
- Sept. 9 – Youngstown State | W 35-7
- Sept. 16 – Western Kentucky | W 63-10
- Sept. 23 – at Notre Dame (7:30 p.m.; NBC & Peacock) | W 17-14
- Sept. 30 – Off
- Oct. 7 – Maryland | W 37-17
- Oct. 14 – at Purdue | W 41-7
- Oct. 21 – Penn State | W 20-12
- Oct. 28 – at Wisconsin | W 24-10
- Nov. 4 – at Rutgers | W 35-16
- Nov. 11 – Michigan State | W 38-3
- Nov. 18 – Minnesota | W 37-3
- Nov. 25 – at Michigan | L 24-30