Live Wire Blog

History lessons

Posted on Dec. 31, 2007 by Chris Blose
Category: 2008 Cotton Bowl

You might think there’s a long, storied history between Mizzou and Arkansas. For one thing, the states of Missouri and Arkansas share a border. For another, they played just four years ago in the Independence Bowl.

Actually, Mizzou and Arkansas have played each other only four times in football history. This first time was in 1906, when Missouri won. Then Arkansas won in 1944. Then Mizzou won in 1963. Then Arkansas won at that 2003 bowl game. So the series is tied at 2-2, and you could look at this year’s Cotton Bowl as a rubber match that’s a long-time coming.

Here are some other historical facts and stats:

• Mizzou last played in the Cotton Bowl in 1946, where the team lost to Texas in a game that saw 950 yards in total offense. That was Mizzou’s only Cotton Bowl appearance.
• Arkansas is no stranger to Dallas, with a 3-6-1 record at the bowl and one national championship victory in the 1965 game.
• Assuming Arkansas’ Darren McFadden is eligible, he and Mizzou’s Chase Daniel will make this the seventh time multiple Heisman Award finalists have played in the Cotton Bowl. The first time was a 1949 game featuring SMU’s Doak Walker and Oregon’s Norm Van Brocklin.
• Mizzou holds a 5-2 record in bowl games against SEC opponents.
• Arkansas is 4-2 against the Big 12 in postseason games.
• The Cotton Bowl itself has been around for 71 years, since oilman J. Curtis Sanford promoted the first game himself in 1937 in Fair Park Stadium.
• Many football greats have graced this bowl, from Doak Walker in the early days to Troy Aikman, Joe Montana, Jim Brown, Roger Staubach and many, many more.
• The Cotton Bowl has featured a match-up of the SEC vs. the Big 12 — arguably the nation’s strongest football conferences — since 1998.

The Cotton Bowl also featured one of the most bizarre plays in college football history, when 1954 Alabama player Tommy Lewis jumped off of the bench and onto the field to tackle Rice’s Dicky Maegle, who appeared to be running for a touchdown. Here’s hoping Mizzou and Arkansas players show a little more restraint.