Big 12 Bowl Previews: Cotton Bowl
3 comments so far
December 17, 2007 by
The 2007 Missouri Tigers plight is reminiscent of the 1998 Kansas State Wildcats. The Wildcats were unbeaten and poised to appear in the national championship game before being upset by Texas A&M in the Big 12 championship game and being passed over by the BCS entirely. Likewise, Missouri was ranked #1 heading into it’s matchup with Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game only to lose and end up in the Cotton Bowl.
The Wildcats howled about the injustice of being consigned to an Alamo Bowl appearance. Then that same team went out and lost the Alamo Bowl to an unranked Purdue team. So much for that argument. You wonder if the Tigers might fall into the same trap. They beat a BCS team in Illinois and another in Kansas, and yet they somehow ended up on the outside looking in.
And the Arkansas team that Missouri will face is dangerous. Don’t let their modest 25th place ranking fool you. In their final game of the season, the Razorbacks marched into LSU’s stadium and beat the top-ranked Tigers in a triple overtime contest. They feature Heisman runner-up Darren McFadden, a top ten scoring offense, and the third best rushing offense in the country. They’re also fifth best in pass efficiency defense. Considering that Missouri gets most of their yards through the air and aren’t especially strong at running the ball or stopping the run – that could mean big trouble.
But with a Heisman finalist of their own in Chase Daniel, it’s not like the Tigers will be overmatched either. Which is why both the Cotton Bowl and New Years’ day can still be something special in college football. Missouri fans better hope that Tiger players recognize that, lest they get caught up in the justice of their bowl selection and forget they’ll be playing a dangerous team. It should have a lot of offense and be fun to watch, a great way to start the New Year.
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bnahusker Dec 17 07
I live in Springfield, MO, and the Missouri and Arkansas campuses are both about 3 hours away. We have local radio for each team, and the print media usually split their space pretty evenly. With that in mind, along with the Petrino Saga, The Cotton Bowl is the bowl game that I am most interested in this year. I want to find out if Mizzou is a one year wonder, or if we have to get used to people actually wearing Black and Gold year round now. I also want another viewing of McFadden before he bolts to the No Fun League. As a Husker born football fan, I cannot begin to decide where my preference is in this game. I just hope that the winner throttles the loser. That way I'll only have to listen to the "Johnny come Lately's" from Missouri, or the SEC Appologists, Not both!
Go Huskers!
Scott Dec 17 07
I think this will be one of the better bowl games of the season. It's going to be a matter of what gives first. Mcfadden is running like crazy and is in midseason form. Mizzou can strike quickly and from pretty much anywhere and Arkansas went head to head with LSU and came out on top against a pretty good defense. This will be a high scoring affair and might come down to who has the ball last.
doombob Dec 19 07
One point I've heard mentioned on radio is about the ex-Heisman hopefuls. Both McFadden and Daniel are exceptional players, but only one of them plays a position that has the potential to lead a team to battle and rise to victory. McFadden can run good, but Chase can make his teammates win. I still think the Tigers don't have a very good shot at this game, but if they pull it out, expect Chase Daniel to look like a hero.