College GameDay Makes Official Predictions for Texas vs. Ohio State

The No. 4 Texas Longhorns are hosting the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday night in Austin for one of the most highly-anticipated regular season games of the past few years. It will mark the third meeting between the two teams in the past three seasons.

Texas will be looking to get some revenge over Ohio State after going 0-2 in the previous two matchups, which included a heartbreaking 28-14 loss to the Buckeyes in 2024 at the Cotton Bowl in the College Football Playoff Semifinals.

ESPN's College GameDay was on hand in Austin on Saturday morning to help preview the game and offer up final predictions for the Top-5 matchup. The crew of Desmond Howard, Rece Davis, Pat McAfee, Nick Saban and celebrity guest picker Glen Powell all revealed their game picks for Texas-Ohio State.

Kirk Herbstreit did not make an official prediction on set since he is calling the game for ESPN on ABC.

Here are the predictions:

Desmond Howard

Pick: Texas

The former Michigan Wolverine isn't picking his biggest rival.

"This is the moment we've been waiting for for Sarkisian and that coaching staff," Howard said.
"They got all the pieces to the puzzle. Can they put the puzzle together tonight against the No. 1-ranked team in the country? I think so. This is the night that they put the college football world on notice. We're going with the Longhorns, baby."

Pat McAfee

Pick: Texas

Unsurprisingly, McAfee had a lot to say while making his prediction.

"Ohio State's the number one team in the country. They got a quarterback that can throw to the number one wide receiver on earth. ... Ohio State has won a national championship a lot sooner than Texas has won one. Ryan Day's been to the mountaintop. Sarkisian hasn't been to the mountaintop.

"But give me Arch Manning and (Cam) Coleman to get a huge win today."

Glen Powell (celebrity guest picker)

Pick: Texas

No surprises here for the lifetime Longhorn.

"I think you guys know what I'm choosing. I'll tell you what. I believe in the Texas team. I believe in Sark. I believe in Arch. I believe that this team has the potential to go all the way. And the thing that would make me the happiest is to party with all you guys in Vegas in January."

Nick Saban

Pick: Texas

"I think Ohio State's number one for good reason. They've got a lot of good players," Saban said. "They've been really good on defense. They've been a really consistent team. There's no doubt about that. But I think Texas has done all the things that they need to do to take it to the next level. I'm picking Longhorns tonight."

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