The 2011 AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic was the 75th edition of the annual post-season

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

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 ...

that was part of the 2010–11 bowl season of the

2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on September 2, 2010, and ended on ...

. The game featured the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a ...

of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

who defeated the

Texas A&M Aggies Texas A&M Aggies refers to the students, graduates, and sports teams of Texas A&M University. The nickname "Aggie" was once common at land-grant or "ag" (agriculture) schools in many states. The teams are also referred to as "A&M" or "Texas Aggi ...

of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

by a score of 41–24. The game was scheduled for January 7, 2011 at 7:27 p.m. CST and was held at

Cowboys Stadium AT&T Stadium, formerly Cowboys Stadium, is a retractable-roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL), and was completed on May 27, 2009. It is also the hom ...

in Arlington,

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 ...

. This was the second time it was held in Cowboys Stadium after leaving its namesake venue. The game was broadcast by Fox.

Teams

The meeting between the Tigers and the Aggies was the 50th all-time between the teams, but the first since the 1995 season. It was the second time LSU and Texas A&M squared off in a bowl game, the first being the 1944 Orange Bowl.

LSU

It was the fifth Cotton Bowl Classic appearance for the Tigers and the first since the 2002 season. The Tigers are the conference statistics leader on pass defense (165.83 ypg). They are rated second in pass efficiency defense (112.94 rating), kickoff returns (25.79 avg.), punt returns (13.50 avg.), scoring defense (17.75 ppg), and total defense (301.67 ypg). Senior Josh Jasper has kicked 31 of 32 point-after-touchdowns, and 26 of 31 field goals for a total of 109 points.

Texas A&M

Texas A&M finished the 2010 season 9–3 after starting the season 3–3 and winning their final 6 games. Led by 3rd year head coach

Mike Sherman Michael Francis Sherman (born December 19, 1954) is an American gridiron football coach and former player who most recently was the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was the head coach of the Green B ...

and 1st year defensive coordinator/assistant head coach

Tim DeRuyter Timothy James DeRuyter ( ; born January 3, 1963) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the defensive coordinator at Texas Tech University. He previously served in the same capacity at the University of Oregon in 2021 an ...

, the team finished the season by beating 2 top 10 teams,

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

and

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

, as well as in state rivals Baylor and

. The Aggies finished their conference schedule in a 3-way tie with Oklahoma and

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

. Oklahoma won the tiebreaker by having a higher BCS Ranking and eventually beat Nebraska in the

Big 12 Championship The Big 12 Conference sponsors championships in 23 sports, 10 men's and 13 women's. The first conference championship awarded was the 1996 softball postseason tournament championship, which was won by Oklahoma. From 2011 through 2016, the foot ...

. It was Texas A&M's twelfth Cotton Bowl Classic appearance, tied for the second-most visits among any team. The Aggies' last trip to the Classic was in 2005 when they were defeated by

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, 38–7. Overall Texas A&M holds a 5–8 record in the Cotton Bowl Classic, with their last win being a 41–13 victory over

in 2013.

Game summary

Scoring summary

Statistics

References

{{Texas A&M Aggies bowl game navbox

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) 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 i ...

Cotton Bowl Classic LSU Tigers football bowl games Texas A&M Aggies football bowl games

January 2011 sports events in the United States