History of the Cotton Bowl

The Cotton Bowl completely takes over New Year’s Day in football happy Dallas, TX!  It was founded in 1937 at the Texas State Fair Grounds by Texas oil exec J. Curtis Sanford, who financed the very first one out of his very pocket.  In this historic first ever Cotton Bowl,  Texas Christian University took on Marquette, with TX winning 16-6 – and the game losing money in spite of the 17,000 people that turned up to watch. However, Sanford continued to persevere, and the rest is Bowl History – in fact, just two years later, the crowd grew to 40,000 in attendance for the St. Mary’s and Texas Tech  game!

Today, with AT&T as a title sponsor, the Cotton Bowl continues to be played on New Year's day, and is the second game of the day following the Outback Bowl, and is played in Cotton Bowl Stadium. The Cotton Bowl plans to move though - in 2007 Bowl officials announced a move into the new Cowboys stadium by 2010.

And how does the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic work? Each year, participants are chosen from the Big 12 Conference and the Southeastern Conference. The Big 12 acts as the anchor, and the SEC provides a division champ and runner up as possible Big 12 opponent. The AT&T Cotton Bowl has the chance to select Notre Dame in place of the SEC representative once in the next three years.

2007 Review: Nebraska Huskers vs. Auburn Tigers

Nebraska started strong, and many critics say that they really won this match-up - except on the scoreboard, where it counts. The Huskers really took it to Auburn at the start - but a few costly turnovers made Auburn carry on fighting. The Huskers' fake punt backfired, and the offence could not find a spark in the second half. Marlon Lucky really stepped up, but he was still bouncing back from an injury and not 100% healthy. Auburn proved to live up to its reputation of racking up more wins than massive yardage. Though many considered the Tiger plays lackluster, one of the highlights of the game was John Vaughn's 42 yard field goal midway through the third quarter. Freshman Ben Tate's 21 yard run qualifies as a big play as well. In the end, in spite of the Huskers' best efforts, Auburn held on for the win, becoming the first SEC team to win the Cotton Bowl in four years - and definitely making '07 a War Eagle year.

The Cotton Bowl is know as one of the most historic bowl games in the history of college bowl games. The Cotton Bowl classic has been played for more than 70 years. Up until now this legendary bowl game has been played at the Cotton Bowl stadium. In 2008, the Cotton Bowl stadium was renovated to add additional deck seating over the lower end-zone, expanding its capacity and defining its "bowl" look. The Cotton Bowl will be played in the future at the new stadium the Dallas Cowboys are building in Arlington, Texas. At the Fairpark location.

The history of the Cotton Bowl classic is long and distinguished. From the very first game, in 1937 between TCU and Marquette, the Cotton Bowl has been full of action. And the Cotton Bowl has also played an important role in helping to shape college football's landscape. In 1964, an undefeated Texas squad beat Roger Staubach's #2 Navy team to claim their first National Championship. The Longhorns again won a National Championship in 1970 when they defeated a Notre Dame team led by Joe Theismann. But the Fighting Irish got revenge on the Longhorns when Joe Montana led them to a 38-10 victory, and a National Championship, in the 1978 game.

In the past many great players have played in the Cotton Bowl. From Sammy Baugh, of TCU, in the 30's, to Y.A. Tittle (LSU) and Doak Walker (SMU) in the late 1940's, to Jim Brown (Syracuse) in 1957. Also a number of Heisman Trophy winners have walked on to the Cotton Bowl field in Dallas. Heisman winners Bo Jackson (Auburn), Ricky Williams (Texas), Doug Flutie (Boston College) and Tim Brown (Notre Dame) all made their mark at the Cotton Bowl. So buy Cotton Bowl Tickets to witness the grandeur of this great bowl game!