SAN ANTONIO – On the eve of the College Football Playoff semifinal clash between Texas and Ohio State, head coaches Steve Sarkisian and Ryan Day sat at the podium for the final time before their teams take the field on Friday.
Neither coach divulged too much information on the game plan Thursday nor were they interested in discussing any prior Cotton Bowl Classic trends.
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“It’s a clean slate,” said Sarkisian when asked about his team being tabbed six-point underdogs by oddsmakers. “You don’t get any points for being an underdog. You don’t get to, ‘Hey, we lost by five, you win.’ It doesn’t work like that in our world. You either win or you lose the game.”
“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. “If you think otherwise, just go back a couple weeks and see where we were. Every single week, the slate is wiped clean and you have to start from scratch again.”
That line of thinking holds firm in several areas for the two teams that haven’t faced each other since the 2009 Fiesta Bowl. However, there are some trends each team would like to get ahead of.
Texas kicker Bert Auburn had two untimely missed kicks against Arizona State that could’ve potentially knocked the Longhorns out of the playoffs had they not rallied in double overtime.
Sarkisian was asked whether he’s considering a different kicker or how he plans to get Auburn right.
“I think that’s always the challenge of a coach, right? You think about some of those positions,” said Sarkisian. “Football is an ultimate team sport, but there’s (sic) some specific positions that are very kind of individualized. Obviously, you think about snapper, punter, holder, kicker — quarterback even at times — of when do you do that and what does that look like.
“I think, ultimately, there’s a psychological approach that we’ve tried to use, and there’s, obviously, the physical approach. And then we’ll monitor that thing through pregame and make a decision and go.”
As Sarkisian gets his team ready for their toughest challenge yet in the CFP, oddsmakers appear to lean toward an Ohio State victory.
The Buckeyes have the odds-on favorite to not just beat Texas but win the CFP national championship at -140. Texas and Notre Dame have the next-best odds at +450, according to ESPNBET.
The second half of the CFP semifinal slate goes down at 6:30 p.m. Friday inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The KSAT 12 Sports team will be at the game with pregame reports in Friday’s 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts along with highlights and postgame reaction Friday on The Nightbeat at 10 p.m.
