25. Cotton Bowl: Ohio State -6 v Texas: There are probably a lot of smart bettors that would never lay this, considering that 2 to 3 short weeks ago this look ahead line would have been somewhere around pick an now we sit at Ohio State -6. I , my friends, am clearly not one of those smart bettors. Things can change quickly, and the main reason people would have been more sour on Ohio State 2 to 3 weeks ago was due to one game also, the Michigan game. When you get to this level of game, you are looking for clear edges that one team might have over the other. It doesn't happen much because championship level teams are usually highly competent in pretty much every area. In this game, however, there are some clear edges. Two that come quickly to mind are Ohio State's run defense against Texas's run offense and thee Buckeye pass rush against the Texas Offensive line. Texas is not going to be able to run on Ohio State. The Horns ran all over Clemson, and you could see that coming because despite playing against a very weak collection of run defenses, Clemson ranked in the low 70's in yards per attempt against. The next week, they faced a much better run defense in Arizona State, and although the Sun Devils were severely overmatched in terms of size, the completely shut down the Texas run game, as Wisner and Blue combined for less than 2.5 yards per carry. Ohio State represents a huge step up from ASU, so I don't expect any success from the Horns in the run game. That leaves it up to Quinn Ewers. Ewers is not mobile and will be facing the #1 pass rush in terms of sack rate in the entire country in this Buckeye defense. Ewers has also taught us that expecting a mistake free performance from him, even against much weaker defenses, is highly illogical. I'm sure he'll make a few plays to Matthew Golden and probably the tight end Gunnar Helm, but there's going to be plenty of negative plays as well against a defense that ranks in the top 5 in virtually every category. On the other side of the ball, I've written ad nauseum about how bad the offenses Texas has played have been, up until the last two weeks. Well, Clemson torched the Texas secondary with Antonio Williams and Bryant Wesco and Arizona State with help from a thinly veiled fake punt and rather elementary option pass from Skattebo, threw for 296 yards last week. I don't need to remind you what Jeremiah Smith and the Oho State passing game is capable of, especially when Will Howard is throwing the ball like he has the past few weeks and during large parts of the season. Texas remains a major question mark in the red zone, especially since they won't be able to run and their kicker, Bet Auburn proved he can't be counted on even in shorter FG situations. As I touched on at the outset, this is definitely not line value, and you're paying a premium for Ohio State's legendary first half performance in the Rose Bowl, but I can't find any reason that would indicate a clear edge for Texas in this game, or even a slight edge for that matter. I think the Buckeyes roll if they bring their A effort.