Missouri runs past Ohio State in second half for Cotton Bowl win

The Ohio State defense held Missouri to 112 yards in the first half and remained stout to start the second, but the Tigers finally got something going late in the third quarter.

After running for 15 yards on a draw, Missouri quarterback Brady Cook faked a handoff then chucked a 50-yard pass to Marquis Johnson. That got the Tigers to the Ohio State 15-yard line.

They took the lead two plays later on All-American running back Cody Schrader’s 7-yard touchdown run to start the fourth quarter.

Missouri put the game out of reach with a 91-yard drive on its next possession, this time punctuated by a 7-yard touchdown pass from Cook to Luther Burden III with just over five minutes left.

Ohio State’s only scoring opportunity of the second half came early in the third quarter.

True freshman Lincoln Kienholz completed a 24-yard pass to Xavier Johnson Jr. to get the Buckeyes into Tiger territory, but Jayden Fielding’s 48-yard field goal hit the left upright.

Missouri finished with 331 yards while Ohio State managed just 203.

Kienholz completed 6 of 17 passes for 86 yards, and Ohio State surrendered six sacks as its offensive line appeared to be under siege for most of the night.

With top receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. opting out of the game, Emeka Egbuka led Ohio State with six catches for 63 yards while TreVeyon Henderson ran for 72 yards despite having a bullseye on his chest from the time Brown was injured.

On the other side of the ball, Jack Sawyer had a career game with three sacks for the Buckeyes, who registered eight tackles for loss but gave up 12 explosive plays, including nine runs of 10 yards or more.

Ohio State led 3-0 after an ugly first half.

The Buckeyes hoped to showcase young receivers and new quarterback Brown, but those plans went out the window when Brown suffered a left ankle injury late in the first quarter.

Two plays later, Fielding made a 44-yard field goal to account for the only points of the half with 3:12 left in the first quarter.

That was possibly mostly thanks to the Buckeyes’ best field position of the first half. They got the ball at their own 47 following the defense forcing a three-and-out, and Henderson quickly picked up 27 yards on two plays.

But Brown was injured on the next one and hobbled noticeably through a few more snaps before being replaced by Kienholz.

He struggled to move the offense, but so did veteran Missouri signal-caller Cook when the Tigers had the ball against the nation’s top pass defense.

He completed 5 of 11 passes for 28 yards in the first half, including a 17-yarder and five-yarder against a softened Ohio State defense in the final seconds.

Those completions put the Tigers in position to try a 65-yard field goal, but those plans were dashed when they could not get the ball snapped before the play clock ran out.

Cook ended up having a desperation pass go incomplete on the final play of the half instead.

Brown started in place of Kyle McCord, who led the Buckeyes to an 11-1 record but opted to enter the transfer portal shortly after the regular season ended.

A redshirt freshman from Arizona, Brown completed 4 of 6 passes for 20 yards and lost 12 yards on three runs before exiting the game.

Keinholz, who threw five passes while appearing in two games this season, was 0 for 4 in the first half against the Tigers, who were able to tee off on Henderson once Brown left the game.

Ohio State sacked Cook three times and forced him out of the pocket multiple other occasions as he rarely looked comfortable in the pocket early in the game.

He did run for 43 yards, though, while Schrader added 41 yards on the ground for the Tigers.

Schrader finished with 128 yards on 29 carries.