Oklahoma football: Sooners appearing in 3rd postseason Cotton Bowl
By Chip Rouse
Since 1932, the actual Cotton Bowl has been a home away from home for Oklahoma football.
On Dec. 30, however, the Sooners will be making just their third postseason Cotton Bowl appearance.
When No. 6 Oklahoma goes up against No. 7 Florida in the 2020 Cotton Bowl Classic, the game will be played at AT&T Stadium, home of the NFL Dallas Cowboys, in Arlington, Texas. This will be the 11th year the game will be played there, and the second time during that span that the Sooners have been one of the participants in the Cotton Bowl Classic.
For 73 years, however, beginning with the first postseason Cotton Bowl game in 1937, the game was held outdoors at the historic Cotton Bowl stadium on the State Fairgrounds in Dallas. That is also the site for the annual football rivalry game between Oklahoma and Texas, which has been held in the Cotton Bowl every year since 1932.
Surprisingly, given the geographic proximity, Oklahoma’s first appearance in the New Year’s Cotton Bowl game was just 18 years ago. The Sooners’ outlasted Arkansas from the SEC, 10-3, on a cold, wintry-like day at the original Cotton Bowl stadium.
The 2002 border-war battle featured more defense than offense. Oklahoma scored on a 13-play, 63-yard drive late in the first quarter, and added a field goal in the third quarter to complete the Sooner scoring. Meanwhile, the OU defense held Arkansas to just 50 total yards in the game. Arkansas crossed into Oklahoma territory only two times on offense, and the OU defense set a school record with nine sacks.
The Sooners only other appearance in the actual Cotton Bowl game came 11 years later, in 2013, and wasn’t nearly as memorable if you are an Oklahoma fan.
In 2010 the Cotton Bowl game was moved to what was then Cowboys Stadium, the majestic new $1.15 billion home of the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas. In the 2013 Cotton Bowl, Johnny “Football” Manziel and the Texas A&M Aggies broke open a close game at the half with a 20-point third quarter outburst and cruised to a 41-13 victory over Oklahoma.
Although the Sooners’ Cotton Bowl game history is relatively short, the new home of the annual Cotton Bowl game is fast becoming OU’s home away from home. The house that Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones built, sometimes referred to as the “JerryDome,” is now named AT&T Stadium.
In 2010 it became the site of the Big 12 Football Championship. Five Big 12 title games have been held there. Oklahoma has been in all five games and is a perfect 5-0, including a 27-20 win over Iowa State to capture the Sooners’ sixth consecutive conference crown.
The 2020 Cotton Bowl Classic will be Oklahoma’s eighth game overall at the Arlington venue. The Sooners are 5-2 in games there.
"“It’s one of the top venues in sports,” said OU head coach Lincoln Riley in his weekly press conference on Tuesday. “It’s just a fabulous place to play football. We love going down there and playing.”"
Besides the bowl loss to Texas A&M, OU’s only other loss at AT&T Stadium was to BYU in the opening game of the 2009 season. Sam Bradford injured his shoulder right before halftime in that game (he would only play in two other games after that the remainder of the season), and the Sooners dropped a 14-13 decision to the Cougars.
Needless to say, the Sooners like playing at the JerryDome. But they like playing in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area in general. For one thing, it’s just a 2 1/2-hour drive from Norman, so it is convenient for their fans, and Oklahoma recruits heavily in the DFW metroplex and it is beneficial to play games there.
The bowl game with Florida on Dec. 30 will be the fourth game since October for the Sooners in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area (the annual Red River rivalry game with Texas at the Cotton Bowl, plus a game at TCU in Ft. Worth and the Big 12 Championship last weekend. OU is 3-0 in the state of Texas this season and would like to make it a clean sweep when it makes the return trip next week.
This year will be Oklahoma’s 22nd consecutive postseason bowl appearance, the second longest active streak (Georgia has the longest active streak with 24).
The Sooners have made 54 bowl appearances all-time. Eight of those have been in the Lone Star State, where Oklahoma owns a 5-2-1 record (3-0 in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, 1-1-1 in the former Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston and 1-1 in the Cotton Bowl).