How Ryan Day and Mario Cristobal got here for the Greg Schiano/Tate Martell/Terry Porter Bowl: Doug Rants

Last thoughts on the Cotton Bowl before kickoff

Ohio State is playing its fifth game in AT&T Stadium on Wednesday night. (Photo by Doug Lesmerises)

A final 10 thoughts on Ohio State and Miami before Cotton Bowl kickoff.

1. A mid-November game 22 years ago attended by 31,019 fans, broadcast on ESPN Plus and played in a conference — the Big East — that no longer exists produced the two head coaches in the Cotton Bowl.

   I love the idea of the random low-level staffers floating through college football right now who in the 2040s or 2050s will emerge as leaders of the sport.

   In 2003, that’s what happened with a 35-25 Boston College win over Rutgers, as 24-year-old BC grad assistant Ryan Day got the best of 33-year-old Rutgers offensive line coach Mario Cristobal

   I asked them about it at the head coaches news conference Tuesday, knowing that no one remembers the specifics of a regular-season game from two decades ago, but hoping they might reminisce about their paths to this game through that shared experience.

   "It was really cold, I could certainly say,” Cristobal said.

   “Did we win?” Day asked.