-
Jake Trotter, ESPN Senior Writer
Coach Ryan Day said the expanded College Football Playoff has given Ohio State the chance “to peak” ahead of the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic against Texas on Jan. 10, with a trip to the national championship on the line.
The Buckeyes routed both Tennessee and top-seeded Oregon in the first two games of the playoff by a combined margin of 45 points. Ohio State led the Ducks 34-0 late in the second quarter in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day.
“I think we’ve learned a lot about our team,” Day said Friday. “I think we’ve grown a lot as a team and we’re banking on this to be our best football this season.”
Despite stunningly losing their last game of the regular season to rival Michigan for a fourth straight year — and falling to the No. 8 seed — the Buckeyes are now five-point favorites over Texas, according to ESPN BET.
The fifth-seeded Longhorns survived Arizona State in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, winning 39-31 in double overtime.
The Buckeyes, meanwhile, averaged 8.8 yards per play against Oregon, the third-most in Rose Bowl history, according to ESPN Research.
“You can see the passion,” Day said of his players. “And I think the way that this format is and the way the playoffs are set now, it allows us an opportunity to grow as a team and to learn and to get better late in the season.”
Day compared the Buckeyes to a wildcard team making a run in the NFL playoffs.
“I did feel like if we could get a good win in the first game, we could build momentum,” he said. “Now it’s our job to keep momentum. We have it right now, but that doesn’t mean anything if we don’t keep it.
“The Oregon game is over…. The only thing that matters is this game right here, playing against Texas.”