There’s certainly a confluence of historical trends that are set to collide in Arlington Saturday night for a matchup that will have a sizable impact on the playoff chase.
Ohio State and TCU will square off a few hours from now in a neutral-site game -- based on the myriad Scarlet & Grey denizens expected to be in attendance it might not be so neutral at kickoff -- that’s easily one of the biggest matchups of Week 3. So big, in fact, that ESPN’s traveling roadshow, College GameDay, is originating from TCU’s campus even as the game will be played less than 20 miles away in Arlington.
The highly-anticipated tilt will be played at AT&T Stadium, home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. Opened in 2009, Jerry World has played host to a total of 13 college football games involving the Big 12; as our colleague Zach Barnett noted over at FootballScoop.com, the conference sports an 0-13 mark in those contests. Included in that all-time doughnut is TCU’s 2013 loss to LSU in Jerry’s Ode To Excess.
Conversely, Ohio State is 2-0 in AT&T Stadium -- a win over Oregon in the College Football Playoff title game to stake its claim to the 2014 national championship as well as a win over USC in the 2017 Cotton Bowl.
All told, OSU is 6-0 all-time in games played in the state of Texas. Included in that are a pair of wins in Dallas, including the 1987 Cotton Bowl; one in San Antonio over Oklahoma State in the 2004 Alamo Bowl; and another in Austin over Texas in 2006.
And head-to-head? The Buckeyes lead the all-time miniseries 4-1-1, although the last game was played way back in 1973. The Horned Frogs’ lone win came in 1957.
Per the line set by Bovada.lv and as of this posting, Ohio State is a 13.5-point favorite in a game that’s set to kick off shortly after 8 p.m. ET tonight.
