The Cotton Bowl Classic is set, and we look at the tale of the two quarterbacks who will take center stage.
The No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes are poised to take on the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes in this year's Cotton Bowl Classic on December 31st.
The Buckeyes got the bye week in the first round of the playoffs while Miami found themselves in a rock fight against the Texas A&M Aggies, which they came out on top, XX-XX.
These two teams appear to be on completely different trajectories heading into this matchup. The Hurricanes are just 5 games removed from a loss to the SMU Mustangs before they ripped off four nice wins over lesser opponents. They will certainly need to play a better offensive and special teams game than what they did against the Aggies on Saturday.
For Ohio State, they have been dominating teams all year long in the Big Ten Conference. The Buckeyes appeared to be by far on their own tier in college football this year, that was until they met the Indiana Hoosiers in the Big Ten Championship Game. Ohio State has a little bit of added motivation heading into this playoff run.
The tale of the tape for both teams starts at the quarterback position. Ohio State's signal caller, Julian Sayin, has been rock solid all year long. He took the keys to this team in August and never once looked overwhelmed by the responsibility.
Sayin was invited to New York City for the Heisman Trophy ceremony earlier in December but came up just a bit short of winning the award. He finished the year completing almost 80 percent of his passes for 3,323 yards and 31 touchdowns to just six interceptions.
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He saved his best football for the finish to the year, when he tore apart the Wisconsin Badgers before ripping up Penn State at home and then playing maybe his best game of the year against Michigan.
He was a true leader for the Buckeyes all year long and is poised for another long playoff run.
On the other side, Miami's Carson Beck is a veteran college quarterback. He enrolled at Georgia in 2020 to join a Bulldogs team that was at the top of the sport. He was a member of the 2021 Georgia team that won the National Championship by 60 points.
When he got his chance as the Georgia quarterback, he won a ton of games, but never got the Dawgs to the playoffs. He finished his career with a 24-3 record but never got a chance at the playoffs.
His time at Georgia came to an end, and he selected Miami as his new home. In his first year as the Hurricanes quarterback, he has been good, but not great. Beck has 3,072 yards, 25 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions on the year.
The Hurricanes were granted a gift into the College Football Playoff with a last-second flip into the tournament over Notre Dame, and he got his first chance in the postseason. He didn't play the best against A&M, but did enough to get the win. He will need to play much better if the Hurricanes want to take down the Buckeyes on New Year's Day.
How these two quarterbacks play against each other will tell the story of the game. For Sayin, he needs to be his usual self while Beck is going to need to tap into some heroics to get the job done.