$6 million jackpot for Big Ten as Ryan Day's Ohio State stuns Texas to punch CFP national championship ticket

Under the leadership of Ryan Day, the Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the Texas Longhorns 28-14 in the Cotton Bowl Classic at the AT&T Stadium on Friday night to punch their ticket to the national championship game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Buckeyes have opened as 9.5-point favorites for the national championship game according to DraftKings.

After the game, "Front Office Sports" reported on X that the Buckeyes were due a $6 million payment from the College Football Playoff for winning the Cotton Bowl which would be added to the Big Ten pot to be shared with other programs.

The Big Ten earnings from the playoffs now stand at a mammoth $46 million.

Ohio State one step away from completing redemption tour

When the Ohio State Buckeyes lost 13-10 to the Michigan Wolverines in the regular season finale, Ryan Day's job was on the line due to the humiliating nature of the loss to their biggest rivals who were having a down year.

The Buckeyes were written off in many quarters but they have been rampant in the playoffs, blowing away the Tennessee Volunteers 42-17 and the No. 1 Oregon Ducks 41-21 in the Rose Bowl to establish themselves as the team to beat. The epic win against the Texas Longhorns has moved the Buckeyes one game closer to completing their redemption tour.

During his postgame news conference, Day acknowledged the pain of the loss to Michigan and challenged his players to win the national championship game to make right past wrongs.

“No great accomplishments are ever achieved without going through adversity,” Day said. “That's just the truth. And we've gone through our share of adversity, and that's life. We’ve got to finish this thing, and they know it.

“I believe that the resilience that we’ve had to show throughout the entire season and through some of these guys’ careers has led us to this opportunity to win this game and go play for a national championship. We talked before the game about how you leave a legacy is to become your own legend. There’s some guys on this team today that, I believe, will become legends in Ohio State history.”

The Ohio State Buckeyes will face a motivated Notre Dame Fighting Irish team led by Marcus Freeman, which has not won a national championship since 1988.