Cotton Bowl Preview: No. 9 Missouri Tigers vs. No. 7 Ohio State Buckeyes
The No. 9 Missouri Tigers are preparing for one of their biggest challenges of the season: the 2023 Cotton Bowl against the No. 7 Ohio State Buckeyes.
Possessing a potent offense and a dangerous defense (even by Southeastern Conference standards), the Tigers can cause plenty of problems for the Buckeyes should they not do their homework.
Missouri is 10-2 after 12 games this season, including five games against top-25-ranked teams. The Tigers are 3-2 in those games with wins against No. 15 Missouri State, No. 24 Kentucky and No. 13 Tennessee, and losses to No. 23 LSU and No. 2 Georgia (all of those rankings were current at the time of the game).
Junior quarterback Brady Cook has been behind center for the Tigers for all but seven pass attempts this season, with six coming from backup signal-caller Sam Horn and the other from kicker Luke Bauer. A St. Louis, Missouri native, Cook has piled up 3,189 passing yards (19 more than Ohio State starting quarterback Kyle McCord) and 20 touchdowns.
Sophomore Luther Burden III is the leading receiver for the Tigers with eight touchdowns and 1,197 yards, which is almost 830 more yards than his total last season. Senior defensive lineman Darius Robinson is another name for which the Buckeyes and their fans should watch out, boasting 41 tackles and 7.5 sacks on the year (which cost opponents 50 yards).
Ohio State and Missouri have met 12 times prior to their upcoming battle in the Cotton Bowl. The Tigers have prevailed in just one of those previous games (22-21 on September 25, 1976), with the rest containing ten Buckeyes victories and a tie.
The Missouri Tigers and Ohio State Buckeyes meet in Arlington, Texas for the 2023 Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on Friday, December 29. Kick-off is set for 8 p.m., with live coverage from AT&T Stadium airing on ESPN.
