3 things Ohio State must do to beat Miami in CFP quarterfinal
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Ohio State is back at the Cotton Bowl.
It was in North Texas last year when the bowl game hosted a College Football Playoff semifinal and now returns for the quarterfinals.
Following a first-round bye as the second-highest seed in the playoff, the Buckeyes will meet Miami, which upset Texas A&M in the first round on Dec. 20.
They will square off at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on New Year’s Eve in their first postseason meeting since the 2003 Fiesta Bowl.
It was almost a quarter-century ago that the Buckeyes pulled off a historic upset of the Hurricanes to capture their first national title in more than three decades.
How Ohio State vs. Miami match up for Cotton Bowl
Here are three factors for the Buckeyes to prevail against the Hurricanes and advance to the semifinals.
1. Ohio State must execute on critical downs
The Buckeyes twice came up empty in the red zone in the second half of their 13-10 loss in the Big Ten championship game despite needing only a yard to move the chains. That cost them as they tried to pull ahead of Indiana. They finished just four of 12 between third and fourth downs. Ohio State will need to do better in that area against the Hurricanes, who rank 13th in the Football Bowl Subdivision in opponent third-down conversions (31.4%) and held Texas A&M to just eight of 18 on third downs. It’s a thinner margin in the postseason.
2. Blocking Miami’s pass rush is paramount
If the Hurricanes have a path to an upset of the Buckeyes, it’s through a pass rush anchored by Rueben Bain, Jr. and Akheem Mesidor. Miami had seven sacks at Texas A&M, causing a level of disruption that blew up the Aggies’ drives. No other team left in the playoff has as many sacks this year as Miami. The Buckeyes will need better pass protection after allowing five sacks to Indiana, and quarterback Julian Sayin will need to be more decisive. He took a season-high average time of 3.42 seconds to throw against the Hoosiers, according to Pro Football Focus.
3. Malachi Toney must be contained
Toney is one of the more dynamic playmakers at this level of the sport, an all-purpose weapon who can burst out of the backfield in addition to his receiving talent. His 1,359 all-purpose yards rank 22nd in the FBS. While he scored the game-winning touchdown on a shovel pass at Texas A&M, he was limited to 31 yards on nine touches. The Buckeyes will need to keep him from burning them with the ball in his hands. He demands their attention.
Ohio State vs. Miami history
Since they met for the national championship at the end of the 2002 season, the Buckeyes and Hurricanes held a home-and-home series in 2010 and 2011. Ohio State prevailed in a 36-24 win during Jim Tressel’s final year in 2010, but lost 24-6 the following year with Luke Fickell as the interim coach.
The win in 2010 does not count in the record books due to vacated wins resulting from the scandal in which Ohio State players exchanged memorabilia for tattoos in violation of NCAA rules, leaving the all-time series at 2-2.
When does Ohio State play next?
Ohio State and Miami meet in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 31 to begin the College Football Playoff quarterfinals.
College Football Playoff schedule 2025-26
- First round: Dec. 19 and 20
- Quarterfinals: Dec. 31 and Jan. 1
- Semifinals: Jan. 8 and 9
- National championship: Jan. 19
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Email him at jkaufman@dispatch.com and follow along on Bluesky, Instagram and X for more.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State vs. Miami predictions, Cotton Bowl scouting report for CFP
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