GRAPEVINE, Texas – The No. 5 Texas Longhorns (13-2, 7-1 Southeastern Conference) made the short trek to North Texas on Wednesday to begin on-site preparations for the 2025 College Football Playoff Semifinal at the 89th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. Texas Longhorns Head Coach Steve Sarkisian and his squad arrived at the Gaylord Texan Resort around 4:15 p.m. in advance of Friday's matchup with the No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes (12-2, 7-2 Big Ten).

The 2025 College Football Playoff Semifinal at the 89th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic is Friday, Jan. 10 at 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN and ESPN Radio. Kickoff is slated for 6:45 p.m.
This year's game will mark Texas' 23rd appearance in the game, the most appearances by any school in the history of the Cotton Bowl Classic. However, it will be the first appearance for the Longhorns since 2003 when they downed LSU, 35-20.

It is the second-straight CFP Semifinal appearance for the Horns. Last season, Texas lost to Washington 37-31 in the CFP Semifinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Although it came up one stop short of the CFP National Championship Game a year ago, Texas is hoping to parlay that experience into a different result this time around.

"Having that experience, for sure, helps," Defensive Coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski said. "We knew what it felt like when we lost. Get there, get a taste of it, one play away from the championship last year I think that experience is a big reason why they've done a great job with their preparation all year long, because they know how hard it was last year to get there. The pain of losing that game.

"It's about the small things, the small details. To the young guys, when they first start hearing that, they sort of tune you out. But you just keep presenting it to them: We would have done this here, run that there, had our eyes here. All those little details every play."

The Buckeyes and Longhorns are meeting on the gridiron for the fourth time 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.
Texas will hold a walk-through at AT&T Stadium on Thursday morning in its final team session before Friday's primetime kickoff.

This year's Classic is a part of the ESPN bowl lineup for the 11th straight year. Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit are set to the call the action from the booth with Holly Rowe and Laura Rutledge reporting from the sidelines. ESPN Radio returns as the Classic's national radio partner for the 11th consecutive year with Marc Kestecher and Kelly Stouffer in the booth and Ian Fitzsimmons and Quint Kessenich on the sidelines to describe all the action from AT&T Stadium.

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