The Cotton Bowl Classic, also simply known as the Cotton Bowl, is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium in Dallas before moving to AT&T Stadium in nearby Arlington in 2010.

Teams:  Penn State (B-10) 10-2 / Memphis (AAC) 12-1

Bowl Location: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX 

Day, Date & Time: Saturday, December, 28, 2019, 11:00 CST

Network: ESPN

Best Win(s): PSU: beat Michigan (9-3) 28-21, Memphis: beat Texas (7-5) 23-21!

Worst Loss(es): PSU: to OSU (13-0), 28-17; Memphis: to Temple (8-4) 30-28! 

Common Opponents: None

Vegas Hot$heets Favorite: PSU -7.0 (Opening Line)

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, say Notre Dame is playing Wisconsin … we take ND’s total yards on offense, add it to the number the Badgers give up on defense, we get a total and then divide the total by 2 to get an average. We then invert the process, we now take Wisconsin’s total offense, add it to what the Irish give up on defense, get a 2nd total, and then divide that number by 2, to get the second average! The greater number (with the exception of Turnovers, lower # wins) is then determined to have the advantage ( please note …. statistical advantage). We repeat this process in each of the eight statistical categories assessed: 1) Total Yards, 2) Rushing, 3) Passing, 4) Scoring, 5) 3rd Down (Conversions /Stops), 6) Turnovers, 7) Red Zone Scores (TD’s & FG), & 8) Red Zone TD’s (only TD’s)!  That said… here are the results of the Head to Head Analysis:

1st Meeting between these schools!

This is the G5 representative program in the New Year’s 6 Bowl Games!

PSU has the advantage in the Turnover Margin Category, PSU has generated 20 take-a-ways to 13 give-a-ways while the Tigers even 18, TO forced to 18 lost!

The Money Down conversions belongs to Memphis 46.3% conversion rate (82/177) while PSU 41.9% (159 attempts to 66 conversions). While 3rd sown stops belong to PSU getting their offense back on the field 64.7% (66 stops /187 attempts) while Memphis comes off the field 61.4% of the time (76/197)!

Memphis rushes the ball for 196.2 YPG to PSU’s 173.5 YPG! Stopping the run its PSU (ranked 5th in the country) allowing 97.9 YPG to Memphis’ allowing 171.6 YPG!

Sully Says: PSU wins but does not Cover! Memphis is playing for the entire Group of 5!