The Cotton Bowl Classic 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 Cowboys Stadium in nearby Arlington in 2010. Since 2014, the game has been sponsored by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and officially known as the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic; it was previously sponsored by Mobil (1989–1995) and Southwestern Bell Corporation/SBC Communications/AT&T (1997–2014).
Robert Lawrence Layne was an American professional football quarterback for 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Texas Longhorns before being selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers with the third overall pick of the 1948 NFL draft and traded to the Chicago Bears. Layne played one season with the Bears, and then with the New York Bulldogs in 1949, the Detroit Lions from 1950 to 1958, and the Steelers from 1958 to 1962.
Daniel "Colt" McCoy is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He played college football at Texas, where he won several awards and honors as a senior in 2009 and is second all time in games won by an FBS quarterback. McCoy was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft and has also been a member of the San Francisco 49ers, Washington Redskins, New York Giants, and Arizona Cardinals, mostly as a backup.
Troy Kenneth Aikman is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. After transferring from Oklahoma, he played college football at UCLA, where he won the Davey O'Brien Award as a senior. Aikman was selected first overall in the 1989 NFL Draft by the Cowboys, received six Pro Bowl selections, and won three Super Bowls. He was also named MVP of Super Bowl XXVII, the franchise's first title in over a decade. Aikman was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008.
John "Bucky" Powell Richardson is a former quarterback for Texas A&M University who went on to play professionally for the National Football League (NFL)'s Houston Oilers. He is married to Tracey and has three children named Jordan, John Paul and Jenna.
Darrell Ray Dickey is an American football coach currently working as an Offensive Analyst for the Georgia Bulldogs.
The Oil Bowl is a high school football all-star game in Wichita Falls, Texas. The game began in 1938, originally between East and West Texas high school football all-stars. In 1945, the game began pitting teams from Oklahoma and Texas, and continued in that format until 2012. In 2013, a dispute concerning the disposition of Oklahoma's share of the game's charitable proceeds led the Oklahoma Coaches Association to withdraw from the game, and the 2013 game matched two Texas teams. For the years in which Texas and Oklahoma teams played, the overall record was 46-19-1 in favor of Texas.
Kevin Rey Smith is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback for nine seasons with the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Texas A&M Aggies, earning consensus All-American honors in 1991. Smith won three Super Bowls with the Cowboys.
David Walker is a former left-handed American football quarterback who played for Texas A&M University in the mid-1970s.
Emmet Augustus "Duke" Carlisle III is a former American football player who started as a quarterback and defensive back for the Texas Longhorns in the early 1960s. He was the starting quarterback on Texas' first national championship team in 1963. In his final game, he set the NCAA record for most yards per pass completion in a bowl game and three Cotton Bowl records on his way to being named the game's Offensive MVP. He still holds the Cotton Bowl record for most yards per pass completion.
The 1989 Mobil Cotton Bowl Classic was a college football bowl game played on January 2, 1989, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The game was played on January 2, the day after New Year's Day, since New Year's Day fell on a Sunday. The bowl game featured the Arkansas Razorbacks from the Southwest Conference and the UCLA Bruins from the Pacific-10 Conference and was televised in the United States on CBS. UCLA defeated Arkansas 17-3 for its first Cotton Bowl win. Troy Aikman, the UCLA quarterback and LaSalle Harper, an Arkansas linebacker were named the Most Valuable Players of the game.
James Everett Saxton Jr. was an All-American football and College Hall of Fame player for the University of Texas and a finalist for the 1961 Heisman Trophy. He played one year of professional football, winning one AFL Championship with the 1962 Dallas Texans.
The 1988 Cotton Bowl Classic was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1988, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. The bowl game featured the Notre Dame Fighting Irish versus the Texas A&M Aggies. In front of a crowd of 73,006 people, Texas A&M won the game by a final score of 35-10.
The 1993 Mobil Cotton Bowl Classic was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1993, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. The bowl game featured the Notre Dame Fighting Irish versus the Southwest Conference champions, Texas A&M. Notre Dame upset the previously undefeated Aggies in a 28–3 victory.
Johnathan Paul Manziel, nicknamed "Money Manziel" and "Johnny Football", is a former American football quarterback. Manziel played two seasons with the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) and was also a member of the Canadian Football League's (CFL) Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Montreal Alouettes in 2018 and the Alliance of American Football's (AAF) Memphis Express in 2019.
The 2013 AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic was a post-season American college football bowl game held on January 4, 2013 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas in the United States. The 77th edition of the Cotton Bowl Classic began at 7:00 p.m. CST and aired on Fox Sports. It featured the Texas A&M Aggies from the Southeastern Conference (SEC) against the Big 12 Conference co-champion Oklahoma Sooners and was the final game of the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season for both teams. Both the Aggies and the Sooners accepted their invitations after finishing the regular season 10–2.
The 1975 Texas A&M Aggies football team represented Texas A&M University during the 1975 NCAA Division I football season. The team was ranked second in the nation late in the season before losing its last two games. The Aggies finished as Southwest Conference co-champions with both the Texas Longhorns and the Arkansas Razorbacks. The three co-champions each finished with a 10–2 overall win–loss record and a 6–1 record against Southwest Conference opponents.
Kyle Allen is an American football quarterback for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). A native of Scottsdale, Arizona, he played high school football at Desert Mountain and was among the top football players of his class. He played college football at Texas A&M before transferring to Houston in 2016.
Kyler Cole Murray is an American football quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). Following a stint with Texas A&M University, Murray played college football at the University of Oklahoma, where he won the Heisman Trophy as a junior. Murray was selected first overall by the Cardinals in the 2019 NFL Draft. He was also selected ninth overall by the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the 2018 draft, making him the first player to be drafted in the first round of both sports.
The 1986 Cotton Bowl Classic was the 50th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday, January 1. Part of the 1985–86 bowl game season, it matched the sixteenth-ranked Auburn Tigers of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the Texas A&M Aggies of the Southwest Conference (SWC). A slight underdog, Texas A&M won by twenty points, 36–16.
