AT&T Cotton Bowl 2014 Missouri vs Oklahoma State

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 4, 2012 between Texas A&M and Oklahoma, a game won by Aggies, 41-13! The Cotton Bowl payout is $7,250,000.005

Teams: Oklahoma State  Conference Affiliation: Big 12; Overall Record 10-2, Conference Record 7-2,  vs Missouri: Conference Affiliation: SEC; Overall Record 10-2, Conference Record: 7-2, Divisional Record 5-1 (SEC East Division) 

Bowl Location: Arlington, Texas  … played @ Cowboy Stadium , the seating capacity @ the facility is 80,000. Last year’s game which featured Texas A&M and Oklahoma, was attended by 87,025 an increase of over 7.000 from the 2012 game.

Day, Date & Time: Friday, 1/3/2014  @ 6:30 p.m. CST

Network: ESPN

Best Win(s): Missouri: beat Georgia, 41-25 & Texas A&M; Oklahoma State; beat Texas, 38-13 & Baylor, 49-17.

Worst Losses:  Missouri: South Carolina 27-24 in OT; Oklahoma State: West Vircinia 31-20

Common Opponents: None

Las Vegas Hotsheet Favorite: Oklahoma State -2

Offensive Team Data: Oklahoma State; Total Yards,  432 YPG; Passing Yards,  275 YPG;  Rushing Yards,  157 YPG; Scoring Average,  40 PPG, Turnovers,  1.42 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 34.7%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 92% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 75%

Offensive Team Data: Missouri; Total Yards,  498 YPG; Passing Yards, 240 YPG;  Rushing Yards, 258 YPG; Scoring Average  39 PPG, Turnovers,  1.08 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 47.7%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 86% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 72%

Defensive Team Data: Oklahoma State; Total Yards,  395 YPG; Passing Yards,  248 YPG;  Rushing Yards,  148 YPG; Scoring Average, 20 PPG, Turnovers,  2.33 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 34.4%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 68% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 41%

Defensive Team Data: Missouri; Total Yards,  389 YPG; Passing Yards,  264 YPG;  Rushing Yards,  125 YPG; Scoring Average,  22 PPG, Turnovers,  2.15 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 33.5 %; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 88% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 56%

Sully’s CFP Game Simulator is a statistical analysis / predictor of how these teams will preform, 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 OSU’s total yards on offense, add it to what Missouri 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 Missouri’s total offense, add it to what Oklahoma Srare gives 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, Missouri …. 440 to 407

Passing Yards: Advantage, OSU …. 261 to 238

Rushing Yards: Advantage, Missouri …. 203 to 146

Scoring: Advantage OSU, ….  30 to 29

Turnovers: Advantage, Missouri … 1.65 to 1.73

3rd Down Conversions: Advantage Missouri, … 41.6% to 35.2%

Red Zone All Scores: Advantage, OSU… 90% to 77%

Red Zone TD’s Only: Advantage,OSU … 66% to 57%

Individuals to Watch: Oklahoma State: QB Clint Chelf, 1792 passing yards, 15 TD’s, & 6 INT’s  RB Desmond Roland, 160 attempts, 745 rushng yards, & 12 TD’s, & WR Tracy Moore 44 receptions , 638 receiving yards , & y TD’s; Missouri: QB James Franklin, 2255 passing yards, 19 TD’s, & 5 INT’s, RB Henry Josey, 162 rushing attempts, 1074 rushing yards, & 16 TD’s, & WR L’Damian Washington, 47 receptions, 853 receiving yards, 19 TD’s

Sully Says: Big 12 vs SEC … Oklahoma’s hammering of Alabama has open eyes to very different outcomes in these inter-conference battles….  That said Missouri QB play & outstanding receiver corp,  will be a little too much for OSU! Missouri needs no points as they win outright!