Ohio State to Play Cotton Bowl’s First “Color vs. Color” Uniform Match.

The Ohio State Buckeyes’ game against the Missouri Tigers on Friday will go down in team history as one of the rarest uniform color combinations.

In less than twenty-four hours, the top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes and the top-ranked Missouri Tigers will square off in the 2023 Goodyear Cotton Bowl from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Which players from the Buckeyes and Tigers will take the field has garnered the most attention in the lead-up to the game. However, Friday’s game will be historic due to an often-overlooked factor.

As is their right as the so-called “home” team in the neutral match, Ohio State will don their scarlet jerseys. Conversely, Missouri will serve as the “away” team and will don their all-black jersey and pants ensemble instead of their customary white uniforms.

Instead of one team wearing white for the Cotton Bowl match, both teams will wear one of their two primary colors thanks to these uniform decisions. Unfortunately for Buckeyes supporters, their team rarely has success with this color combination.

According to Andrew Lind, the last time such a wardrobe matchup occurred in Ohio State history was the Rose Bowl game against the UCLA Bruins in 1976. The then-Pac-8 conference’s Bruins shocked everyone by defeating the unranked Buckeyes 23–10.

The only other “color vs. color” Ohio State participated in was during a previous Rose Bowl showcase. The Buckeyes were defeated by the Cal Bears in that 1921 game, but the color combination was not unusual at the time.

On Friday, December 29, at 8 p.m. eastern, the Ohio State Buckeyes and Missouri Tigers will kick off. ESPN will broadcast the game in real time.