Cotton Bowl 2017: Five things to look forward to in USC vs Ohio State

The winner will likely need five touchdowns or more

There’s no doubt in mind that this could turn into either the biggest scoring Cotton Bowl of all-time, or at least the biggest one we’ve seen in quite some time. If you go back over the last decade, seven of the last ten winners had to get at least 35 points.

The three exceptions to that were 2012, 2010, and 2007. In the 2012 Cotton Bowl, Arkansas defeated Kansas State 29-16, coming close to the 35 point mark, but falling six points short. Two years before that, Mississippi took down Oklahoma State by a more regular of 21-7.

And then in 2007, Auburn edged Nebraska by a final tally of 17-14.

Other than that, here’s a look at the seven other winners with their final score in parentheses, starting in 2016 and going down, skipping the aforementioned exceptions: Alabama (38), Michigan State (42), Missouri (41), Texas A&M (41), LSU (41), Mississippi (47), Missouri (38).

The two biggest repeating numbers are 38 and 41 — and that’s over the span of the last decade. This could mean, at least if history has shown us anything, that we could very well be in for a high-scoring affair.

In addition to that note, a high-scoring game doesn’t necessarily also mean that it’ll be close. Out of the last ten games, the only ones that have been decided by single digits were in 2015, where Michigan State won by a single point and 2007, where Auburn won by a field goal.

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Every other Cotton Bowl in the last decade has been decided by ten or more points, while maintaining that high-scoring aura. This should be fun.