Texas and Ohio State are set to add another chapter to a fast-growing series Saturday night in Austin, and this one comes with plenty of weight attached.
The Buckeyes and Longhorns will meet for the sixth time overall, and remarkably, three of those games will have come in Texas’ last 16 contests. Ohio State handled Texas in the College Football Playoff semifinals at the Cotton Bowl in January 2025, then turned around and beat the Longhorns 14-7 to open the 2025 season.
Now the No. 1 team in the country comes to town for one of the marquee nonconference games on the schedule. Texas enters ranked No. 4 in the AP poll and No. 3 in the Coaches Poll, setting up a top-tier showdown in front of a national audience.
For Steve Sarkisian, the matchup carries a little extra shine because of how quickly it has repeated.
“That’s awesome,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “You know, you just think the first year we played, it was the semifinals, and what a great game.
Last year, going to the Horseshoe (Ohio Stadium) and playing them up there, first game of the year, and now to have them here in DKR in Austin, and what a big deal this is, not just for our football team, but for the entire university, for the city of Austin, I think it’s amazing. The eyes of the college football world, the eyes of the sporting world will be on DKR Saturday night, so it should be exciting.”
Saturday’s game will also be just the second time Ohio State has ever played in Austin. The first came in 2006, when the top-ranked Buckeyes beat Texas 24-7 in redshirt freshman quarterback Colt McCoy’s first season as the starter. Ohio State that day was led by eventual Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith.
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