The 1987 Cotton Bowl Classic was the 51st

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of the

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bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

, played at the Cotton Bowl in

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Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, on Thursday, January 1. Part of the 1986–87 bowl game season, it matched the eleventh-ranked

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of the

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and the #8

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of the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...

(SWC). A slight underdog, Ohio State won by sixteen points, 28–12.

Teams

This was the first Cotton Bowl appearance by a team from the Big Ten Conference.

Ohio State

The Buckeyes were co-champions of the Big Ten with

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, to whom they lost 26–24 on November 22. Ohio State hadn't played a Southwest Conference team since the season opener in

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Texas A&M

Texas A&M won their second consecutive Southwest Conference championship under Sherrill. A&M aimed to become the second team to win consecutive Cotton Bowls (the first was

in January

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Game summary

Televised by

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, the game kicked off shortly after 12:30 p.m. CST, ninety minutes after the

Florida Citrus Bowl Camping World Stadium is a stadium in Orlando, Florida, located in the West Lakes neighborhood of Downtown Orlando, west of new sports and entertainment facilities including the Amway Center, the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, an ...

, and two hours before the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...

, both on

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. It was a close game early and Ohio State led 7–6 at halftime. Scott Slater kicked two field goals for the Aggies contrasted with

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's touchdown run. But the second half is where Ohio State and their defense shone; on the third play of the half, linebacker

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intercepted a Kevin Murray pass and returned it 24 yards for a touchdown. When the Aggies tried to drive again, rover

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intercepted the ball, his second of the game. Vince Workman capped Ohio State's drive with his 8-yard run midway through the third quarter for a 21–6 Buckeyes' lead. In the fourth quarter, Aggie

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scored from two yards out, but the

two-point conversion In gridiron football, a two-point conversion or two-point convert is a play a team attempts instead of kicking a one-point conversion immediately after it scores a touchdown. In a two-point conversion attempt, the team that just scored must run ...

attempt was ruled out of bounds, and the Ohio State lead was 21–12 with nine minutes to go. When A&M tried to drive with three minutes to go, linebacker Michael Kee intercepted and returned it 49 yards for a touchdown to seal the win. Despite having less first downs, three passes picked off, and more penalties than A&M, it was Ohio State's defense that was the difference with five interceptions, two returned for touchdowns, and one that led to a touchdown.

Scoring

;First quarter: *Texas A&M – Scott Slater 30-yard field goal ;Second quarter: *Ohio State –

3-yard run (Matt Frantz kick) *Texas A&M – Slater 44-yard field goal ;Third quarter: *Ohio State –

24-yard interception return (Frantz kick) *Ohio State – Vince Workman 3-yard run (Frantz kick) ;Fourth quarter: *Texas A&M –

2-yard run (pass failed) *Ohio State – Michael Kee 49-yard interception return (Frantz kick) :

Statistics

: :

Aftermath

The next season, A&M returned to the Cotton Bowl for a third straight year, and won in Sherill's penultimate year as head coach. Ohio State went 6–4–1 in

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and fired Bruce. This was the last time Texas A&M and Ohio State met until the

1999 Sugar Bowl The 1999 Sugar Bowl was an American college football bowl game played on January 1, 1999. It was the 65th edition of the Sugar Bowl and featured the Ohio State Buckeyes, and the Texas A&M Aggies. Ohio State entered the game ranked number 4 in the B ...

, which Ohio State won 24–14. This was the last Cotton Bowl with a Big Ten team until

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

appeared in January

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, against Baylor. In that game, Michigan State trailed 41–21 in the fourth quarter, then scored 21 unanswered points to pull off a stunning one-point win, the largest comeback in Cotton Bowl history. Ohio State returned in December

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, where they defeated

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

24–7.

References

{{Texas A&M Aggies bowl game navbox Cotton Bowl Cotton Bowl Classic Ohio State Buckeyes football bowl games Texas A&M Aggies football bowl games Cotton Bowl January 1987 sports events in the United States