With college football season quickly coming to an end, tensions are rising between fans for who gets to play in the national championship.
The Orange Bowl and The Cotton Bowl are the final two games that decide which two teams battle it out for the champion title.
The Orange Bowl, formally known as the Palm Festival Game, originated in 1932. In the mists of the great depression George E. Hussey, the official greeter for Miami, sought to improve the economy by assembling a game comparable to Pasadena’s “Rose Bowl”.
The Orange Bowl started being played annually in 1935 at Miami Field until 1937 when it was switched over to the Miami Orange Bowl. The game continued to be played there until 1999 when it was moved to its current location, Hard Rock Stadium.
Now that we have some history to the game let’s move on to the current day. The Orange Bowl will be played on Thursday, January 9th at 7:30pm. The Notre Dame “Fighting Irish” will be playing against Penn State’s “Nittany Lions”.
Although Notre Dame is favored to win, Penn State could easily pull off this win with the only difference in the team’s being their defense.
This game could go either way. Despite the fact that Penn State is ranked higher the Notre Dame, their defense just could not match up with Notre Dame. According to NCAA the Fighting Irish are ranked third overall in defense while Penn State is only ranked 7th.
While Notre Dame’s defense has been an unstoppable force, Penn State’s very own Zane Durant could be the wall that separates the Fighting Irish from the CFP championship.
The first Cotton Bowl was played in 1937 when Texas oil tycoon and real estate developer J. Curtis Sanford financed the game out of his own pocket. TCU defeated Marquette in that first game, 16-6, in front of about 17,000 fans.
The game featured the Southwest Conference winner until the conference’s disbandment in 1996. It then featured a Southeastern Conference team against a Big 12 team.
The Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic was selected on April 24, 2012, as one of six bowl games to comprise the College Football Playoff.
Now that we covered some history lets speak about this year’s game
The Buckeyes and Longhorns are meeting on the gridiron for the fourth time at this year’s Cotton Bowl with Texas holding a 2-1 series advantage. Their last meeting came in a 24-21 Texas victory in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 5, 2009. As of right now Ohio state is favored by 5.5 points.
The Buckeyes advanced to the 89th Classic after their 41-21 triumph over top-seeded Oregon in the 2025 CFP Quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential.
On the other hand, The Longhorns return to the Classic following their 39-31 double-overtime victory over fourth-seeded Arizona State in the 2025 CFP Quarterfinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
Ohio State returns to the Cotton Bowl Classic for the second straight season and fourth time overall (2-1 record) with its last appearance coming against Missouri in the 88th edition on Dec. 29, 2023.
While Texas has played in the Classic more than any other program, back for its 23rd appearance (11-10-1 record) with its last coming in a 35-20 win over LSU in the 67th edition on Jan. 1, 2003.
