By Robbie Neiswanger
Arkansas News Bureau • rneiswanger@arkansasnews.com
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas won’t be heading to a Bowl Championship Series game for the second straight season. But the Razorbacks’ consolation prize looks just like one.
Arkansas (10-2, 6-2 in Southeastern Conference), which is No. 6 in the BCS standings, will play No. 8 Kansas State (10-2, 7-2 in Big 12) in the 2012 Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas on Jan. 6. The Wildcats received the Cotton Bowl berth after being passed over for an at-large berth in a BCS bowl.
So the Cotton Bowl will feature its first matchup of top 10 teams for the first time since 1994, when Notre Dame beat Texas A&M. It also will be one of four top 10 matchups during the bowl season, joining three BCS games LSU-Alabama (BCS championship game), Oklahoma State-Stanford (Fiesta Bowl), and Oregon-Wisconsin (Rose Bowl).
“I think it’s a great platform for us to be playing and for us to continue to expose our program and where it’s come and how good it is,” Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long said of the Cotton Bowl invitation. “This is a big, big win for the University of Arkansas, not only our athletic program.”
The game will signal Arkansas’ first trip to the Cotton Bowl since the end of the 2007 season, when the Razorbacks made the transition from former coach Houston Nutt and current coach Bobby Petrino. Former defensive coordinator Reggie Herring was in the charge of the Hogs, who suffered a 38-7 loss to Missouri.
Petrino was not available for comment Sunday night. Long said he was on the road recruiting. But Arkansas released a statement from Petrino that said the Razorbacks are looking forward to returning to Cowboys Stadium, where they are 3-0 after wins in the Southwest Classic against Texas A&M.
“The mentality our players have demonstrated is what has allowed us to accomplish all we have this year,” Petrino said in the statement. “We’ve enjoyed success in Cowboys Stadium and the hospitality and experience the Cotton Bowl provides gives our team a special opportunity to compete together one more time. I know this game will be highly anticipated by our fans and the support they will give the Razorbacks will once again be tremendous.”
The official announcement ends a week-long debate regarding Arkansas’ bowl destination after it climbed as high as No. 3 in the BCS standings. The Razorbacks knew they were eliminated from BCS consideration after the LSU loss, leaving them with the Capital One Bowl or the Cotton Bowl.
The Capital One Bowl, which has the first pick among SEC teams outside of the BCS, considered Arkansas, South Carolina and Georgia. The bowl chose South Carolina, matching the Gamecocks with Nebraska for its Jan. 2 game.
Arkansas, meanwhile, will stay closer to home to play in a game that, historically, has meant a lot to the Razorbacks.
“How could you be disappointed to go to play in Dallas at the world’s greatest stadium?” said Long, who added Arkansas has sold its allotment of 12,500 tickets. “The Cotton Bowl, we have a tremendous history with them. … Dallas, for our fans, I don’t think there’s much better than the Cotton Bowl other than a BCS national championship berth.”
Arkansas has played in the Cotton Bowl 11 times in school history, compiling a 3-7-1 record. The Razorbacks’ last Cotton Bowl win came in 2000, when they beat Texas 27-6.
A lot has changed with the Cotton Bowl since Arkansas’ last appearance in 2008. The game has moved from the Cotton Bowl in Dallas into Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, eliminating the possibility of frigid conditions on game day.
The game also has moved out of its previous time slot — a morning kickoff on New Year’s Day — and into primetime. This season’s game is set for a 7 p.m. kickoff on Fox. It is the only college football game scheduled that day.
“Fox came to us last year and offered us a primetime slot that is really in the spotlight because there is nobody else playing college football on that day,” Cotton Bowl president Rick Baker said last week. “This is going to be a spotlight kind of game with the whole nation watching.”
Arkansas and Kansas State have played four times with the last meeting coming in 1967, a game the Hogs won 28-7.
Kansas State hoped to land a BCS at-large selection spot, much like Arkansas did last season. But the Wildcats — who will play in the Cotton Bowl for the third time and first since 2001 — were left out when Virginia Tech (No. 11) and Michigan (No. 13) were selected by the Sugar Bowl.
Long said Arkansas believes it is BCS worthy, too, with its only losses coming to No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Alabama. But only two teams from a conference are permitted to land in BCS bowls.
“We deserve to be in one of those BCS games with the way we’ve played,” Long said. “We’ve known that this was a possibility with the way the system currently is and I see this system changing in the future.”
So the two teams will have to settle for the next best thing — a Cotton Bowl showdown. It’s a matchup Cotton Bowl representatives were thrilled to set up Sunday night.
“We have had a lot of terrific games in recent years, but it’s been a long time since the Cotton Bowl has hosted a pair of Top 10 teams,” Baker said in a statement Sunday night. “You have to go all the way back to 1994. Kansas State vs. Arkansas is a blockbuster matchup for us.”
Postseason Ticket
Who: BCS No. 6 Arkansas (10-2, 6-2 in SEC) vs. BCS No. 8 Kansas State (10-2, 7-2 in Big 12)
What: 2012 Cotton Bowl
When: Jan. 6 at 7 p.m.
Where: Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas
TV: Fox
Series Record: Kansas State leads 3-1
Last Meeting: Arkansas 28, Kansas State 7 in 1967
Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl
Overall Record: 3-7-1
2012 — Arkansas vs. Kansas State
2008 — Missouri 38, Arkansas 7
2002 — Oklahoma 10, Arkansas 3
2000 — Arkansas 27, Texas 6
1990 — Tennessee 31, Arkansas 27
1989 — UCLA 17, Arkansas 3
1976 — Arkansas 31, Georgia 10
1966 — LSU 14, Arkansas 7
1965 — Arkansas 10, Nebraska 7
1961 — Duke 7, Arkansas 6
1955 — Georgia Tech 14, Arkansas 6
1947 — Arkansas 0, LSU 0
