The Ohio State football team punched its way to the College Football Playoff National Championship game against Notre Dame on January 20, thanks to a hard-fought win over the Texas Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl.

The Longhorns were one yard away from a tying touchdown late in the fourth quarter, but the Buckeyes won, 28-14, to set up a CFP national championship game matchup against Notre Dame.

Ohio State outlasted Texas 28-14 to win the Cotton Bowl and clinch their first trip to the College Football Playoff National Championship since 2014. The Buckeyes will face 7-seed Notre Dame at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Jan.

Quinn Ewers had looked forward to seeing his old roommate at the Cotton Bowl, but not as up-close-and-personal as Jack Sawyer made the reunion, probably. A strip sack and recovery and interminable 83-yard touchdown run with a little more than two minutes left,

The No. 8-seeded Buckeyes will meet the No. 7-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the national championship game.

Ohio State fans came out in full force at the Cotton Bowl, occupying nearly half of AT&T Stadium for the CFP semifinal matchup vs Texas:

OSU elected to go for it on fourth-and-2 at the Texas 34-yard line with 9:50 to go. With every receiver split out to the right, Ohio State pulled the left guard and ran a play for Howard up the middle. He easily got the first down and probably should have scored if he didn’t stumble and fall to the turf.

Texas is playing Ohio State in the College Football Playoff. Here is everything you need to know about Friday's Cotton Bowl.

Here’s who’s on the call for ESPN’s broadcast of the College Football Playoff semifinals game between Ohio State and Texas.

Both teams roll into Arlington with a pair of losses this year. The Buckeyes lost to Oregon and rival Michigan while the Horns lost to Georgia twice, including in the SEC title game.