MISSOURI TIGERS NOTES:
NOW IT’S TIME FOR THE BREAKDOWN
The No. 9 University of Missouri football team continues its remarkable 2023 season against No. 7 Ohio State in the 88th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on Friday, Dec. 29 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. CT with ESPN and Tiger Radio Network providing coverage.
THE SERIES
The Tigers (10-2) and Buckeyes (11-1) meet for the first time since 1998 and 13th matchup overall. OSU holds a 10- 1-1 edge in the series and the teams will square off for the first time in the postseason.
MIZZOU IN THE COTTON BOWL CLASSIC
MU will play in its third Cotton Bowl Classic and first since 2014. The Tigers are 2-1 all time in the classic.
COTTON BOWL GAME-BY-GAME
• Jan. 1, 1946: Texas 40, Missouri 27 • Jan. 1, 2008: Missouri 38, Arkansas 7 • Jan. 3, 2014: Missouri 41, Oklahoma State 31
THE COACHES ELIAH DRINKWITZ,
the 2023 Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year is in his fourth season at Mizzou. He has led the Tigers to bowl appearances in each of his first four seasons, joining former head coach Warren Powers as the only two MU head coaches to achieve that feat. Additionally, only Powers won more games in his first two seasons at MU (1978-79, 15) than Drinkwitz (11). Prior to taking the Mizzou job, Drinkwitz was 12-1 as the head coach at Appalachian State in 2019. He had previous stops as the OC at NC State, Boise State and Arkansas State. RYAN DAY is 56-7 in his fifth full season at Ohio State.
ABOUT OHIO STATE
The 2023 Buckeyes have been powered by one of the nation’s top defenses and an offense that features the Big Ten’s top wide receiver and tight end. Ohio State has national rankings of No. 3 in total defense (259.9 yards/game), No. 1 in passing defense (147.4 yards/game) and No. 2 in scoring defense (11.0 points/game).
FIVE-PLUS THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT MISSOURI
THE CLASSIC
MU is making its fourth appearance in the Cotton Bowl Classic and first since 2014 (2013 season) … The Tigers are 2-1 all time in the classic … MU defeated Oklahoma State (2014) and Arkansas (2008), but lost to Texas in 1946 … This is Mizzou’s first appearance in one of the CFP’s New Year’s Six games … MU has nearly 12,000 active alumni in Texas with almost half that number belonging to the DFW alumni chapter … Tigers fans scooped up the 13,000-bowl ticket allotment in less than 18 hours.
HOW WE GOT HERE
The Tigers finished the regular season 10-2 and have the nation’s No. 1 red-zone offense and No. 25 scoring offense, averaging 34.1 points per game … They achieved double-digit wins for the first time since 2014 and finished 6-2 in Southeastern Conference play after being picked to finish 13th overall in the league’s preseason poll with many pundits suggesting MU wouldn’t make a bowl game … The team has held the #STP or Something To Prove motto close to its heart all year long.
BEST IN THE LAND
RB Cody Schrader won the Burlsworth Trophy as the nation’s best player who started his career as a walk-on … The St. Louis native played three years at NCAA DII Truman State before coming to MU as a walk-on in early 2021 … After leading the Tigers with more than 700 rushing yards last season, he ran for an SEC-best 1,499 yards and 13 touchdowns in the regular season … A First-Team All-SEC selection and winner of multiple AllAmerica honors, Schrader was also a finalst for the Doak Walker Award.
AMBUSH OFFENSE
Led by QB Brady Cook, WR Luther Burden III and Schrader, the Tigers have the nation’s No. 1 redzone offense and No. 25 scoring offense, averaging 34.1 points per game … Schrader leads the NCAA FBS and SEC in rushing yards per game … Cook has thrown for over 3,000 yards while the electrifying Burden had his first career 1,000- yard receiving season. The OL, anchored by 40-game starting vets at RT (Javon Foster) and RG (Xavier Delgado), was a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award.
DEATH ROW D
Defensively, MU’s senior-led 11 forced 35 sacks and topped the SEC in turnover margin — snagging 10 turnovers in the last three game … CB Kris Abrams-Draine leads the SEC in passes defended while DE Darius Robinson’s 6.5 sacks rank sixth in the conference … Butkus Award finalist Ty’Ron Hopper has 55 tackles, six for a loss, and three sacks to his credit … AbramsDraine, Hopper, CB Ennis Rakestraw Jr. and Robinson have all accepted invitations to the 2024 Reese’s Senior Bowl.
STREAKS, STORYLINES, SIDEBARS …
• Mizzou is playing its 133rd season of college football and is the 33rd FBS school to reach the 700-win milestone. • Head Coach Eliah Drinkwitz has led Mizzou to a bowl in each of his first four seasons — and hit the six-win threshold in season four — only the second coach in school history to do so along with the late Warren Powers (1978-84). • The 2023 roster features 32 players who have started at least four games in the collegiate career at the FBS level. • Thirty-eight student-athletes on the team are from Missouri, including eight from the 573 area code, 19 from the St. Louis metropolitan region, nine from the Kansas City area and two from southwest Missouri. • Mizzou finished nonconference play undefeated for the 10th time since 2000, and first since 2018. • The Tigers finished the regular season 10-2, hitting double-digit wins for the first time since 2014, along with a 6-2 SEC finish after being picked to finish 13th overall in the league’s preseason poll. • The Tigers’ two losses came in SEC play by a combined margin of 19 points to ranked teams. • MU leads the NCAA FBS in red-zone offense, converting at a 97.9-percent (47-of-48) clip. • Missouri recently signed their third Top 25-ranked recruiting class in the last four seasons. • MU’s offense is the No. 1 red-zone unit in the FBS and No. 25 scoring offense, averaging 34.1 points per game. • The defense had 35 sacks, forced 10 turnovers in the last three games and leads the SEC in turnover margin. • OC Kirby Moore and DC Blake Baker recently inked contract extensions and MU will return both coordinators for the first time in Coach Drinkwitz’s four seasons. • RB Cody Schrader, the Burlsworth Trophy winner and Consensus All-America choice, leads the NCAA FBS and SEC in rushing yards per game, QB Brady Cook has thrown for over 3,000 yards while electrifying WR Luther Burden III had his first career 1,000-yard receiving season • Butkus Award finalist Ty’Ron Hopper has 55 tackles, six for a loss, and three sacks to his credit. • CB Kris Abrams-Draine, Hopper, CB Ennis Rakestraw Jr. and DE Robinson all accepted Reese’s Senior Bowl invites. OSU-MU TIES • OL Javon Foster’s father Jerome was a four-year letterwinner at Ohio State (1979-82). He played nose guard, was a three-year starter, 1982 team captain and still ranks among OSU’s Top-20 tacklers. • WR Mookie Cooper started his career at Ohio State, redshirting during the 2020 season.
TIGERS’ STOCK RISING
• Missouri enters the Cotton Bowl Classic riding a wave of momentum, including a 12-3 mark in its last 15 contests dating back to November 2022. • That stretch represents the best 15-game span for the Tigers in nearly a decade, since Mizzou won 26 of 31 games from August 2013 through September 2015.
RANKING AMONG THE BEST IN COLLEGE FOOTBAL
• Consensus All-America choice and Burlsworth Trophy winner Cody Schrader appeared on 25 Heisman Trophy ballots, earning a single first-place vote, two second-place votes and 22 third-place votes to rank him eighth overall, the highest finish for an MU player since Chase Daniel was fourth in 2007.
HIGH COTTON
• Missouri has advanced to its 37th bowl game appearance, and it’s fourth in as many seasons under head coach Eliah Drinkwitz (including its 2020 Music City Bowl berth that was canceled due to COVID 19). The Tigers are 15-20 overall in bowl games. • The Tigers have averaged 35.3 points per contest in their previous three Cotton Bowl appearances. • Several notable individual performances by Tigers have been staged in Dallas, including Tony Temple’s Cotton Bowl-record 281-yard, 4-TD effort in MU’s 2008 win over Arkansas. Against Oklahoma State in 2014, Henry Josey rushed for a trio of TDs, including the go-ahead score, and Shane Ray returned a fumble 73 yards for a TD in the closing minutes to seal the outcome. • Including their 2021 Armed Forces Bowl setback against Army in Fort Worth, the Tigers bring a 2-2 bowl mark in the Metroplex into this year’s Cotton Bowl. • Mizzou has also played SMU in Dallas on 13 previous occasions, going 4-9 against the Mustangs on the road to give MU a 6-11 overall mark in the Metroplex.
OHIO STATE BUCKEYES NOTES:
FIRST AND TEN
• No. 7 Ohio State (11-1 overall and 8-1 in the Big Ten Conference East Division) and No. 9 Missouri (10-2 and 6-2 in the SEC East) meet in the 88th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. • Ohio State was runner-up in the Big Ten East; Missouri was runner-up in the SEC East. • In their last outings: Ohio State lost, 30-24, on the road at No. 2 Michigan on Nov 25; Missouri has won three consecutive games since its last loss, to No. 1 Georgia in Athens, 30-21, defeating Tennessee, Florida, and Arkansas (48-14 in Fayetteville, Ark., on Nov. 24). • Ohio State is playing in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl for the third time and the first time since the 2017 season (a 24-7 win over USC). • The Buckeyes also owns a 28-12 win over Texas A&M in the 1987 Cotton Bowl. • The Buckeyes are in a bowl game for the 11th consecutive year and, officially, for the 22nd time in the past 24 years. • Ryan Day’s teams are 18-7 (.720) vs. teams ranked in the Top 25. • Ohio State will open its 2024 football season Aug. 31 against Akron University at Ohio Stadium.
MOST NY6 APPEARANCES
• This is Ohio State’s 10th year playing in a New Year’s Six (including CFP games) postseason game, or every year since the start of the CFP era. • No other team has been to a New Year’s Six game all 10 years.
COTTON BOWL HISTORY
• This will be Ohio State’s third-ever trip to the Cotton Bowl. The Buckeyes are 2-0 in two previous games with wins over Texas A&M to conclude the 1986 season (the game was played on Jan. 1, 1987) and USC at the end of the 2017 season. • Ohio State does have two other noteworthy wins at the home of the Cotton Bowl – AT&T Stadium. “Jerry World” was the site on Ohio State’s win over Oregon in the first-ever College Football Playoff national championship game as well as a 40-28 victory against No. 15 TCU early in the 2018 season.
OHIO STATE / MISSOURI HISTORY
• While this year’s Cotton Bowl will be the 13th all-time meeting between Ohio State and Missouri, the two teams have only played three times in the last 73 years. • In 1997 and 1998, Ohio State won both games of a home and home series (31-10 in Columbia, Mo. in 1997 and 35-14 in 1998 at Ohio Stadium). • Missouri captured a 22-21 win in Columbus in 1976, and before that the two schools met seven consecutive years from 1943-49. • Between 1939 and 1949, Ohio State and Missouri played nine times – all Ohio State wins – with each of the games occurring in Columbus at Ohio Stadium.
11 FOR 11 … SORT OF
• With its 37-3 win over Minnesota on Nov. 18, Ohio State extended its streak of 11-or-more wins to 11 full seasons (2020 excluded due to COVID) starting with 2012. • The only program with a longer active streak is Alabama, which has won 11 or more games for 12 consecutive seasons. • In that time, the Buckeyes are 132-16 (.892) with a College Football Playoff national championship, five Big Ten championships and five appearances in the College Football Playoff.
115 WINS THE LAST 10 YEARS
• Ohio State’s 115 wins over the last 10 seasons are the third-most in college football, behind only Alabama (127) and Clemson (118). f Ohio State has the nation’s second-best winning percentage in that time at .891. Only Alabama (.907) is better. • Among Big Ten programs, the Buckeyes have 23 more overall wins than the next-highest program (Michigan with 92). Wisconsin is third with 91 wins.
DAY VS. NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS
• The Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic will be head coach Ryan Day’s 20th game against a non-Big Ten Conference opponent in his tenure as head coach (wins vs. Oregon State and TCU as acting head coach in 2018 included). • Day’s Buckeyes are 15-4 in the previous 19 games and average 44.7 points per game. • Included in those 15 wins are three against teams ranked in the Top 10: vs. No. 3 Clemson (2020), No. 5 Notre Dame (2022) and No. 9 Notre Dame (2023). • The losses: vs. No. 3 Clemson in the 2019 CFP semifinals; vs. No. 1 Alabama in the 2021 CFP championship game; vs. No. 12 Oregon (2021 regular season); and vs. No. 1 Georgia in the 2022 CFP semifinals.
12-3 WITH MORE THAN A WEEK OF PREP
• Ryan Day-coached teams are 12-3 in regular and postseason games where there has been more than one week to prepare. • This record includes season openers, College Football Playoff games and New Year’s Six bowl games.
OHIO STATE ON DEFENSE
• The Buckeyes, under DC Jim Knowles, have been one of the top defenses in the country all season. • The unit ranks among the Top 3 units nationally in pass defense (first), scoring defense (second) and total defense (third). • The Buckeyes have allowed more than 17 points in a game just once this season, and have allowed only five rushing touchdowns all year. • Ohio State allowed just six points and only 53- and 54-yard field goals by Michigan State and Minnesota, respectively, kept the unit from back-to-back shutouts against the Gophers and Spartans. • Additionally, the defense has surrendered just 13 touchdowns (first nationally) and opponents have scored TDs on just 44 percent of their red zone trips (ninth best nationally). • Only two of the 13 touchdowns allowed have covered 20 or more yards.
MORE ON THE DEFENSE
• One has to go back 16 years, to 2007, for the last time an Ohio State defense did not allow a 20-point scoring game through the first 10 games of the season. • The 132 points allowed by the defense through 12 games is the fewest since the 2006 unit gave up just 125 in its first 12 contests. • The defense has allowed only 108 plays greater than 10 yards, which is good for third-best nationally and averages out to just 9.0 per game. • The 10-plus yards plays: 35 rushes (10th fewest nationally); and 73 passing (4th fewest nationally). • In the last seven games, Ohio State opponents have converted just 22 percent of their third-down chances (22-of-98).
T1st IN DEFENSIVE TOUCHDOWNS
• Ohio State is tied with seven other teams with a nation’s best four defensive touchdowns. • Ohio State’s scores: a fumble recovery in the end zone by Tyleik Williams vs. Western Kentucky and “pick-6’s” by CB Jermaine Matthews (58 yards vs. WKU), Josh Proctor (24 yards vs. Maryland) and Jordan Hancock (93 yards vs. Rutgers).
OHIO STATE ON OFFENSE
• The Ohio State offense scored 30-or-more points in three of the last four games. • The team has historically been Top 5 nationally in scoring, total offense and passing under Ryan Day, but this year finds itself ranked 32nd in scoring, 36th in total offense and 21st in passing offense. The wide receiver room is excellent once again, led by Heisman Trophy finalist and Biletnikoff Award winner Marvin Harrison Jr. (67 rec., 1,211 yds. and 14 TD) • Emeka Egbuka (35 catches for 452 yards and three scores) missed three games in the middle of the season with an injury. • Two of the top offensive players in the Big Ten are RB TreVeyon Henderson and TE Cade Stover.
SECOND HALF SURGE
• Ohio State has averaged 42 yards more per game rushing over the last four games than it did the previous four. f The stretch was highlighted by a 215-yard showing against Minnesota on Nov. 18. • Much of in increase in production can be attributed to TreVeyon Henderson, who averaged 99.2 yards per game and scored five TDs in contests vs. Rutgers, Michigan State, Minnesota, and Michigan.
