Ohio State and Texas enter CFP semifinal at Cotton Bowl seeking a chance to end title droughts

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — There is still a sense for some Ohio State players that they haven't done anything yet, even after winning twice already this postseason to get into the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Cotton Bowl against Texas.

"Absolutely. I have been here for four years, and I have absolutely no hardware to show for it," receiver Emeka Egbuka said. “That’s really on the forefront of our minds.”

While Ohio State (12-2) is the only school to appear in four of the last six CFPs — all since Ryan Day became head coach — and won four consecutive Big Ten titles from 2017-20 before Egbuka and most of the current players arrived, the Buckeyes' last national championship was 10 years ago. That was the first season of the four-team College Football Playoff, when they won the title at AT&T Stadium, the home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys where they play the in-state Longhorns (13-2).

The winner Friday night advances to play Orange Bowl champion Notre Dame (14-1) for the national title in Atlanta on Jan. 20.

Ohio State is the No. 8 seed now favored to win the national title after two lopsided playoff wins: 42-17 at home against Tennessee before a dominating 41-21 win over undefeated Big Ten champion and top seed Oregon in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day.

“We’re just fighting to get another opportunity to play with each other,” said linebacker and captain Cody Simon, one of nine Ohio State players still around from 2020. “That's our biggest motivator right now. ... We don't want to end this run right now."

Texas last won the national title 19 years ago, and didn't make its CFP debut until last season as the Big 12 champion. Coach Steve Sarkisian's fifth-seeded Longhorns are now the last team standing for the Southeastern Conference, the only league that has been represented in the semifinals each year — and that has six of the last nine national champions.

The 15 games for the Longhorns, who played in the SEC championship game before wins over Clemson and Big 12 champ Arizona State, are already one more than they had ever played in a single season.

"I like the new playoff dynamic. It’s fun,” Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers said.

“We’re obsessed with finishing up,” said Longhorns All-America senior cornerback Jahdae Barron. “But we’re obsessed with being enamored with us, and giving every day the respect that it deserves. And just being loving to one another and having a level bond with one another and continuing to build the culture.”

Ohio State quarterback Will Howard and Ewers both won Big 12 championships the last time they played at AT&T Stadium.

Texas was the Big 12 champ last season. Howard transferred to Ohio State from Kansas State, which two years ago beat CFP-bound and undefeated TCU in overtime for that league title.

Howard started three games against Texas while with the Wildcats. Those were all losses, as was a fourth game when he was on the sideline.

The best matchup of the game could be Barron vs. Buckeyes freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound Barron won the Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive back. But Barron gives up four inches and 15 pounds to Smith, the second-team All-American who may be the most electric freshman in the country. Smith has 70 receptions for 1,224 yards and 14 touchdowns. Smith has four touchdowns in these playoffs.

“He’s a big baller. Strong,” Barron said. “He’s a physical player, and I’ll have to be physical.”

In its two losses to Georgia this season, Texas struggled to protect Ewers and surrendered 13 sacks. Now the Longhorns face a Buckeyes defensive front that sacked Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel eight times in the Rose Bowl. Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau each had two sacks in that game. Sawyer was Ewers’ roommate when the Longhorns QB spent a semester in Columbus before transferring to Texas.

Texas is playing in its 23rd Cotton Bowl, the most for any team. But this is the Longhorns' first in 22 years. Ohio State is in its second Cotton Bowl in a row, and fourth overall, after losing 14-3 to Missouri last season.

While the winner plays for the national title, the loser goes into an offseason that will lead up to a rematch when the two teams meet in a 2025 season opener at Ohio State on Aug. 30.

Their only previous regular-season meetings were a home-and-home series in 2005 and 2006. The road team won both of those games and went on to play for the national championship — Vince Young and the Longhorns beat Southern California for the 2005 national title. Ohio State lost to Florida the following season.

AP Sports Writer Jim Vertuno contributed to this report.

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

FILE - Ohio State linebacker Cody Simon (0) celebrates after his sack against Western Michigan during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)

FILE - Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers (3) throws against Florida during the first half of an NCAA college football game in Austin, Texas, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

FILE - Texas defensive back Jahdae Barron (7) celebrates with teammate Barryn Sorrell (88) after making in interception against Arkansas during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Fayetteville, Ark. (AP Photo/Michael Woods, File)

FILE - Ohio State receiver Emeka Egbuka, left, and running back Quinshon Judkins celebrate their touchdown against Iowa during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)

A judge barred the Trump administration on Thursday from immediately moving to shut down a small federal agency that supports investment in African countries on Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon in Washington issued the order hours after the filing of a lawsuit by the president and CEO of the U.S. African Development Foundation.

Ward Brehm said in a complaint that he directed his staff on Wednesday to deny building entry to staffers from billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and Pete Marocco, the deputy administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

DOGE and Trump do not have the authority to shut down the agency, which was created by Congress, Brehm said in the complaint.

The order from Leon, who was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, bars Brehm from being removed or DOGE from adding members to the board over the next few days.

Brehm also said that days after President Donald Trump targeted the agency in a Feb. 19 executive order that aims to shrink the size of the federal government, staffers from DOGE tried to access the organization's computer systems.

“When USADF learned that DOGE was there to kill the agency, USADF staff refused DOGE access to cancel all grants and contracts,” said the complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement, “Entitled, rogue bureaucrats have no authority to defy executive orders by the President of the United States or physically bar his representatives from entering the agencies they run.”

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Trump administration mandated DOGE and Musk, the world’s richest man whose businesses have federal contracts, to root out waste, fraud and abuse and to help reduce the nation’s debt load.

Brehm said in his complaint that DOGE and Marocco, a Trump political appointee helping shutter USAID, also recently targeted the Inter-American Foundation, a federal agency that invests in Latin American and the Caribbean.

On Tuesday, DOGE said on X that all but one employee at IAF had been let go and its grants cancelled, including funding for alpaca farming in Peru, for vegetable gardens in El Salvador and for beekeeping in Brazil.

Trump is also targeting the U.S. Institute of Peace, a Washington-based think tank, and the Presidio Trust, which oversees a national park site next to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Both entities, which were created by Congress, continue to operate and say they are compiling information requests from the White House.

The National Endowment for Democracy, a private nonprofit that helps combat authoritarianism around the world, sued the Trump administration on Tuesday, saying in a complaint that it had been denied access to its funding, “something that has never occurred before in the Endowment’s forty-two-year existence.”

In 2023, it reported issuing $238 million in grants, including through the International Republican Institute, where Secretary of State Marco Rubio formerly served as a board member.

Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this story.

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Elon Musk departs the Capitol following a meeting with Senate Republicans, in Washington, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)