Ohio State, Ryan Day Crushed by Fans After Dreadful Performance in Cotton Bowl vs. Missouri

The Tigers dominated the Buckeyes on both sides of the ball in the 2023 Cotton Bowl.

No. 9 Missouri earned a convincing 14–3 win over No. 7 Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium on Friday night.

The Tigers (11–2) dominated Ohio State (11–2) on the defensive side of the ball, holding the Buckeyes to 203 total yards and he team’s lowest point total (3) of the Ryan Day era in Columbus.

After trailing Ohio State 3–0 at halftime, Missouri capped an 11-win season by scoring two impressive fourth-quarter touchdowns. After being unable to move the ball for the first 45 minutes against the Buckeye defense, the Tigers scored on consecutive 95- and 91-yard touchdown drives to put the game away.

MISSOURI AGAINST THE WORLD.#MIZ | #STP pic.twitter.com/8lYQCFEANp

— Mizzou Football (@MizzouFootball) December 30, 2023

Senior running back Cody Schrader led the way on offense for the Tigers, gaining a game-high 128 rushing yards and a touchdown on 29 carries. 

After it was announced that star wideout Marvin Harrison Jr. had opted out of the game just prior to kickoff, the Buckeyes were also forced to play freshman quarterback Lincoln Kienholz after Devin Brown was forced to leave the game with an ankle injury in the second quarter. 

Immediately after the dreadful performance, college football fans took to social media to prod Ryan Day’s short-handed Buckeyes’ squad.

Ryan Day, spending the rest of this Cotton Bowl trying to figure out how to blame Ohio State's performance on Connor Stalions and sign stealing pic.twitter.com/pFSvGF0SVI

— Aaron Torres (@Aaron_Torres) December 30, 2023

Michigan Block M 🤝 Missouri Block M

Owning Ryan Day & Ohio State pic.twitter.com/nncfk2BVq4

— College Football Report (@CFBRep) December 30, 2023

Cotton bowl recap: https://t.co/uSGtwFUPS2

— Jessica Smetana (@jessica_smetana) December 30, 2023

Ohio State ends the season with losses to both Michigan and Missouri. pic.twitter.com/24u7usjP55

— DraftKings (@DraftKings) December 30, 2023

#OhioState fans. This is where you start saying this was #mizzou’s super bowl and you all never really cared pic.twitter.com/hjitqpyukj

— Alex Klingelhoeffer (@okccfacfp) December 30, 2023

Me waiting on Ohio State fans to admit Ryan Day ain’t the elite coach they claim he is… pic.twitter.com/Kf4JPZXa3l

— Bruce Straughan (@bruce_straughan) December 30, 2023

Ohio State when they see the opposing team with a Block M on their helmet pic.twitter.com/305dVMIoLP

— Mark Kim (@MarkJKim_) December 30, 2023

Ohio State when they see Mizzou’s block M logo is the same as Michigan’s: pic.twitter.com/nMBPYlbpnE

— Carson Burkhart 📸 (@cburkio) December 30, 2023