Last week, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian seemed agitated at the idea that his Longhorns were going to be underdogs against Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl

“The reason they have the least amount of stats is because they’re scoring so fast,” Sarkisian said Thursday at the Cotton Bowl coaches’ press conference. “Some joke in there, some reality.”

While Sarkisian spoke highly of the Buckeyes, he didn’t back away from claiming the underdog title. If anything, Sarkisian was rather matter-of-fact about the reality that Ohio State has been more consistent in the College Football Playoffs.

Ohio State (12-2) is a six-point favorite over Texas (13-2). The Horns have been oddsmakers’ favorites in every game they’ve played all season.

WATCH AND SUBSCRIBE: Follow A to Z Sports’ Texas Longhorns channel on YouTube.

Click here to accept Marketing cookies and load this content

‘Nobody’s going to give us a shot’ — Texas HC Steve Sarkisian claims underdog status vs. Ohio State in Cotton Bowl

With hint of sarcasm, Sark on Buckeyes WRs: ‘I just hope we’re good enough to guard them’

“I could probably poll everybody in this room, and you probably all agree they’re the favorite to win the game. And that’s OK,” Sarkisian said sitting next to Ohio State coach Ryan Day at AT&T Stadium.

“But that’s football. That’s sport. That's why we have to do what we do. So I don't, not going to back off of what I said. The reality is now we have to go perform. That’s our responsibility as a football team to go perform. But they've earned that right because the way they played here the past couple weeks.”

Ohio State has been sensational in huge wins over Tennessee and Oregon in getting to the CFP national semifinals. For his part, Day said “every week is a whole new week” and Friday’s game is a clean slate for both teams.

“the truth is that nothing that Ohio State has done or Texas has done up until this week has anything to do with what's going to happen in this game. Zero,” Day said. “Every single week, the slate is wiped clean, and you have to start from scratch again, and that starts with your meetings, with your walk-through and with your preparation.

“It’s going to come down to the players on the field and how they play, and there's going to be a lot of great players on both sides,” Day said. “It’s going to come down to who takes care of the ball and ultimately executes better in the end.

“So it should be a great, great night for football.”

Friday’s Cotton Bowl won’t be the only time Texas and Ohio State meet. They’re scheduled to open the 2025 season in Columbus as part of a home-and-home contract scheduled years ago.

Longhorns fans will never hear a better explanation of Steve Sarkisian’s culture and ‘three gears of life’ than this

Helm: Texas’ culture turnaround can be tracked by the team’s grade point average

While other schools are intent to bail out of big non-conference games, both coaches feel the new college football format allows for hiccups along the way.

“I would say it’s great for our team,” Day said. “Now, the way it’s set up, I think that you’re allowed a loss or two throughout the season to learn and grow and to build as a team, where in the past if you were to lose a game like that, your whole season was ruined.

Said Sark: “Yeah, I concur. I think one thing that's interesting, when you look at these final four teams, none of the Final Four teams played an FCS opponent this year.

“I think there's a reason you come to Texas. There’s a reason you go to an Ohio State,” Sarkisian added. “Everybody’s trying to stockpile wins. I think the players we recruit, they want to go against the best. They want to compete against the players that they went on multiple recruiting visits with and they got to know a little bit, or played all-star games against.

“So you can feel that energy, especially early in the season, when you're coming out of the grind of training camp when you've got a marquee game early in the season that I think our players look forward to.”