Don’t tell Ohio State that AT&T Stadium’s home-field advantage hasn’t been as kind to Longhorns as Buckeyes may think
Yes, the Longhorns are making their 23rd Cotton appearance, but those happened at Fair Park, not AT&T Stadium
The Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium is supposed to be a neutral-site venue. Neither side gets a true home-field advantage, allegedly.
“I think both schools get the same number of tickets,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. That’s true. Both teams get 13,000 each.
So why does it feel like the Longhorns will have the decided crowd edge in the College Football Playoffs semifinals in Arlington? Is that based on geography alone? Perhaps. But it's not exactly DKR North.
Maybe it's because Texas has played in more Cotton Bowls than any other program. This will be the Longhorns' first appearance since Jan. 1, 2003. Texas is 11-10-1 in the Cotton Bowl, but to be clear, every one of those games were played at Fair Park in Dallas, not AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
“I know we've got a great fan base that travels,” Sarkisian said. “I know Ohio State’s got a great fan base that travels.”
WATCH AND SUBSCRIBE: Follow A to Z Sports’ Texas Longhorns channel on YouTube.
The Cotton Bowl will be the 11th game this season Texas has played in its home state. The secondary ticket market has held up well, with get-in-the-door prices hovering around $200 and great seats going for well over $1,000 on Stubhub.
Don’t tell the Buckeyes, but it’s not like the Longhorns have some long, glorious track record in Arlington. Texas had a disastrous non-conference loss to UCLA there in 2014 and then lost the Big 12 championship game in 2018. The 2023 season saw a rebound as this time the Horns won the Big 12 title.
Ohio State QB Will Howard eager for revenge after going 0-3 against Longhorns with Kansas State
Howard’s best game vs. Texas came in 2023. ‘I’m excited to get a crack at these guys.’
Ask any Texas fan, and they’ll tell you the school’s best memories this century came in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. And on a regular-season basis, Texas’ annual Red River rivalry game is played in Cotton Bowl stadium, which is located a half-hour east of Arlington in Dallas.
Texas safety Michael Taaffe is one of the few who is undefeated at AT&T. His Westlake team won the 2000 Class 6A Division I state championship famous Dodge Bowl against Southlake Carroll at Jerry Jones’ stadium.
“Yeah, I think it gets those nerves out a little bit when you know what the stadium looks like, what the atmosphere is, what the air smells like in that dome or that stadium,” Taaffe said.
“So you think those nerves kind of rush out. It's good to have nerves, I truly believe that. But too much built-up nerves where you’re not playing your game because you’re thinking about something else, I think that's where it can go wrong. And when you have that familiarity, then those nerves kind of subside.”
The Buckeyes are the ones who can claim Arlington as sacred ground. Ohio State won the 2014 national championship by knocking off Oregon 42-20 at AT&T Stadium.
“There’s a lot of history there,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “And I don’t think that really has anything to do with anything, quite honestly. We’ve got to go play on the field, but it’s a great venue.
“We’ve had a lot of great games there, and I know we have great fans in the Dallas area and throughout Texas. And so we know it's going to be a great atmosphere.”
