DALLAS - Ohio State and USC took vastly different paths to get to the Cotton Bowl, but both sides have one thing on their collective minds now — win.

After missing out on the playoffs, the Buckeyes came into Dallas with the mindset that this game still matters just as much as any postseason game they would have had if the team jumped into the top four.

The Trojans, on the other hand, might have suffered two losses as well, but never quite reached the summit of the College Football Playoff rankings. For them, Friday's game is more than just winning a bowl game and earning some momentum heading into the offseason.

It's all about making history.

"Well, I think you approach every game like we have, and we try to go 1-0 every week," said USC coach Clay Helton. "And here's our opportunity to try to accomplish a 12th victory. That's special. A 12th win has only happened four times in 125 years for USC football."

The last time the Trojans earned a 12th win, it was 2008 and Ohio State was their Week 2 opponent. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, they were on the wrong end of a 35-3 final score.

Urban Meyer spoke with great respect when discussing USC Thursday and has mentioned multiple times throughout the last few weeks how familiar he is with the Ohio State vs. USC rivalry. For him, seeing two conference champions square off on such a grand stage brings more than enough hype to the end of the season.

"The great thing about this is you're going to see the Pac-12 champion against Big Ten champion on a great venue," Meyer said. "And that's what college ... that's why college football is so strong right now."

After expressing displeasure with missing the playoff as a conference champion, it's interesting to see how two teams with similar paths interact with one another. While all coaches show a certain level of respect for one another during bowl season, there was an interesting give and take to the discussions between Meyer and Helton.

Simply put, there was more than enough respect shown between the two head coaches.

For Ohio State, a win would mean another accolade racked up by the now legendary 2013 recruiting class for the Buckeyes. But, a loss would mean one of the least successful seasons under Meyer in Columbus, on paper.

When asked about the possibility of losing for a third time in 2017, Meyer mostly deflected the question. Although the question was posed with the word "tarnish" to describe what a loss would do, the Buckeyes' coach was not a fan of that description.

"I think our job is to go win the conference championship and go win a bowl game. I'm not sure "tarnish" is the right word," Meyer said. "I would be disappointed and move on to next year. I think as I get older and more experienced, we're going to move forward; we don't look back. So we're going to do all we can to go win this game."

It's difficult to say the stakes are extremely high, given the nature of bowl games rounding out the year and having little impact on the following season. But, both sides want the Cotton Bowl for their own reasons.

For USC, it's all about reestablishing themselves at the top of the NCAA. And for Ohio State, it's about proving the Buckeyes are more than just the first team out.