The AT&T Cotton Bowl

About

For reasons we don't care to go into, the annual Cotton Bowl game is no longer played at the Cotton Bowl. But that's better for you, the average sports fan, because now the game is played at the world's football mecca in Arlington. Also good for football fans is the fact that this year's game presents as big a matchup as could be hoped from a non-BCS bowl, pitting #11 LSU against #17 Texas A&M.

After winning 10 of their first 11 games and securing a top 10 ranking, LSU seemed to be Sugar Bowl-bound late in the season. But a 31-23 loss to rival Arkansas in their regular season finale dropped them to third in the SEC West, and pushed them out of the BCS picture. Now the Tigers head into their bowl game reeling a bit, although they dodged a bullet when the NCAA reinstated their leading rusher, Stevan Ridley, after initially ruling him ineligible for the game.

Texas A&M, on the other hand, enjoyed a second-half renaissance after a mediocre start to the season. A&M began their year by breezing through three easy non-conference opponents before getting knocked off by Oklahoma State, Arkansas, and Missouri in consecutive weeks. But the Aggies then ran off six consecutive victories, including a pair of wins against top 10 opponents (Oklahoma and Nebraska) on the back of Ryan Tannehill, who replaced former Heisman-hopeful Jerrod Johnson mid-season. Now, the Ags be trying to lock down their first 10-win season since 1998.