AT&T Cotton Bowl

Bowl History: The Cotton Bowl was first played in 1937 and has been played annually since its inaugural year! The Bowl was once one of the four major bowls (Sugar, Orange & Rose) today it is a second tier bowl which selects its teams after the BCS Bowls (Fiesta, Orange, Sugar, Rose & the BSC National Championship) teams have been placed! The tie-ins are the second place team or highest ranked (if 2 teams are in a BCS Bowl) team from the Big 12 and the 4th highest ranked team out of the SEC (if 2 are in the BCS … the Capital One Bowl gets the third highest ranked team from the SEC) then goes to the Cotton Bowl! The first game played in this series took place on January 1, 1937, 16th ranked TCU beat a 20th ranked Marquette, 16-6! Last year’s game was played January 6, 2012 between Arkansas and Kansas State, a game won by Arkansas, 29-16! The Cotton Bowl payout is $7,250,000.00!

Teams: Oklahoma  Conference Affiliation: Big 12; Overall Record 10-2, Conference Record 8-1,  vs Texas A&M: Conference Affiliation: SEC; Overall Record 10-2, Conference Record: 6-2, Divisional Record 5-1 (SEC West Division) 

Bowl Location: Arlington, Texas  … played @ Cowboy Stadium , the seating capacity @ the facility is 80,000. Last year’s game which featured Arkansas and Kansas State, was attended by 8o,956 or 101.20% of Cowboy Stadium’s capacity.

Day, Date, & Time: Friday, 1/4/13 @ 7:p,m. CST

Network: ESPN

Best Wins: Oklahoma: beat Texas, 63-21, & Oklahoma State, 51-48 in OT: Texas A&M beat Alabama , 29-24 & Old Miss, 30-27!

Worst Losses: Oklahoma: lost Kansas State 24-19 … this lost cost the Sooners a Big 12 Championship & a BCS bid! Texas A&M losses to LSU, 24-19 & Florida, 20-17 cost them a birth in the BCS National Championship Game!

Common Opponents: None

Las Vegas Hotsheet: Game opened @ Texas A&M -3 and has  moved to A&M -4.5

Offensive Team Data: Oklahoma:  Total Yards, 506 YPG; Passing Yards, 341 YPG;  Rushing Yards, 165 YPG; Scoring Average 40 PPG, Turnovers, 1.58 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 52.1%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 91% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 70%

Offensive Team Data: Texas A&M: Total Yards, 552 YPG; Passing Yards, 317 YPG;  Rushing Yards, 235 YPG; Scoring Average 45 PPG, Turnovers, 1.67 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 55.4%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 88% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 73% 

Defensive Team Data: Oklahoma:  Total Yards, 379 YPG; Passing Yards, 198 YPG;  Rushing Yards,181 YPG; Scoring Average 24 PPG, Turnovers, 1.25 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 41.4%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 82% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 63%

Defensive Team Data: Texas A&M: Total Yards, 389 YPG; Passing Yards, 248 YPG;  Rushing Yards, 141 YPG; Scoring Average 23 PPG, Turnovers, 1.25 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 30.7%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 78% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 60%

Sully’s Game Simulator: is a statistical analysis / predictor of how these teams will perform, based solely on their numbers, when they face off on the gridiron! Keep in mind, these stats were established against different teams and conferences and these differences must be taken into account to get a complete picture when attempting to predetermine a winner. If you are interested in how the Simulator works … read this part … if not … skip it! The process used is … we take Oklahoma’s total yards on offense, add it to what A&M gives up on defense, …  get a total and then divide that number by 2 … to get the mean. We then invert the process by taking A&M’s total offense, add it to what the Sooners give up on defense, get a total and divide that number by 2  to get the second mean… the greater number (with the exception of Turnovers) is then determined to have the advantage ( please note …. statistical advantage). We repeat this process in each of the eight statistical categories assessed!  That said… here are the results of the Head to Head Analysis:

Total Yards:  Advantage Texas A&M 466 to 448

Passing Yards: Advantage Oklahoma 295 to 258

Rushing Yards: Advantage Texas A&M 208 to 153

Scoring: Advantage Texas A&M 35 to 32

Turnovers: Advantage Oklahoma 1.42 to 1.46

3rd Down Conversions: Advantage Texas A&M 48.4% to 41.4%

Red Zone All Scores: Advantage Texas A&M 85% to 84.5%

Red Zone TD’s Only: Advantage Texas A&M 68% to 65%

Individuals to Watch: Oklahoma: QB, Landry Jones has passed for 3989 yards, 29 TD’s, 10 INT’s, & completed 66% of his passes; Texas A&M: QB, Johnny Manziel led the Aggies rushing attack with 1,181 yards and scored 19 rushing TD’s while passing for 3,419 yards, 24 TD’s to 8 INT’s and completing 68.3% of his passing attempts.

Sully Says: Funny how things change in a year! Oklahoma Football has been long considered to be a better program than Texas A&M’s. Then A&M moves to the SEC, a guy named Manziel comes along and suddenly the college football world’s perception of things is turned upside down! Maybe its the psychological power of the SEC, or better said … the success that A&M has had in the SEC (I wonder how Oklahoma would have done …. if they were the ones to move to the Southeast?) I’m not sure beyond a shadow of doubt how this paradigm has happened … but it is clear the college football gods now favor Texas A&M over the Sooners. That said … I’m not sure I do… Oklahoma gave up 10 fewer yards per game (379 to 389), in the offensive-minded, pass-happy Big 12 than did A&M …. in the defensive-minded, run-oriented SEC! Who is to say, a team like Oklahoma would not enjoy the same type of success that A&M did ….  by forcing the vaunted SEC Defenses’ to play more in space? (unlike the Big Ten ….  the Big 12 offenders run as well as SEC defenders)! Since 2007, here are the results of the head to head games … 07, 42-14 Oklahoma, 08, 66-28 Oklahoma, 09, 65-10 Oklahoma, 2010, 33-19 Texas A&M, & 2011, Oklahoma, 41-25 over A&M! So in 4 of the last 5 meetings, including last year’s game, the Sooners have had their way with the Aggies! What’s different now?….  a perception or a reality? No doubt, Manziel is both different & real … but Oklahoma is not different … is it not …. the same old, same old for them ….when Oklahoma lines up tonight against A&M?. Sully CFP Says … take Oklahoma and the 4.5 points!