A valiant defensive performance can be unraveled by repugnant offense.
Ohio State – perhaps for the first time under Ryan Day – experienced that phenomenon in the Cotton Bowl against Missouri.
All of the Tigers’ first nine drives failed to yield points. Eight of them ended in punts with another stop coming as the clock ran out for halftime. The defense gave the offense opportunity after opportunity to get things together and build a lead. It did so despite poor field position, with seven of those initial nine stops coming after Missouri started from its own 37-yard line or better.