One of the most historically known college football bowl games takes place in Dallas, Texas, called the Cotton Bowl. There is plenty of history behind the 86 years of existence of the bowl game that has seen some of the best teams face off against each other. Here is some of the lore behind the classic Lone Star Bowl game.
Full History Behind the Cotton Bowl
The first Cotton Bowl was played at the Cotton Bowl stadium back in 1937. TCU defeated Marquette 16-6 in front of 17,000 fans.
Before the College Football Playoff, the game had several tie-in conferences that were associated with the bowl game. The Southwest Conference was associated with the bowl game from 1941 through 1995. The Big 12 and the SEC had associations with the game from 1999 through 2014. After 2014, it became a part of the College Football Playoff as it was rotated in.
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Teams played their games at the Cotton Bowl from 1937 until 2009. The venture was changed after 2009 as it was moved to AT&T Stadium, where they have played ever since.
Five different companies have been sponsors of the Cotton Bowl game. Mobil was the first to sponsor the game in 1989, which lasted through 1995. Southwest Bell and SBC Communications also spent time as sponsors. In 2006, AT&T took over as the sponsor for the team. Since 2015, Goodyear has held the spot as sponsor, the longest of any company.
As for the teams that have played in the game, the Texas Longhorns have appeared in the most games of any college team with 22 appearances, nine more than the second most (Texas A&M). Texas has the most wins in the bowl game with 11 as they have a record of 11-10-1 overall. Penn State has the highest winning percentage of any team as they have gone 3-0-1, for a .875-win percentage.
Some important records broken at the game include the most points scored by USC and Oklahoma, who each scored 55 in their appearances. The most combined points scored was Penn State, beating Memphis 53-39, or 92 combined. The most recent record broken in the bowl game was USC quarterback Caleb Williams throwing the most passing touchdowns in a game with five scores last season against Tulane.
This year’s Cotton Bowl will be between the ninth-ranked Missouri Tigers and the seventh-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. The two teams will square off on ESPN on Friday at 8 pm EST.
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