The 2012

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

Cotton Bowl Classic, the 76th edition of the game, was a post-season American

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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 ...

, held on January 6,

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as part of the 2011–12 NCAA Bowl season. The game, which was telecast at 7:00 p.m. CT on

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, featured the

Kansas State Wildcats The Kansas State Wildcats (variously "Kansas State", "K-State", or "KSU") are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Kansas State University. The official color of the teams is Royal Purple; white and silver are generally used as c ...

from the

Big XII 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 ...

versus the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville. The University of Arkansas student body voted to change the name of the school mascot (ori ...

from the

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

. Arkansas won the game 29–16, which was their first win over Kansas State since 1967. This was only the second time in the BCS era that a non-BCS bowl had two teams with higher BCS rankings playing than teams in a BCS bowl (the first being the

2008 Poinsettia Bowl The 2008 San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl was the fourth edition of the college football bowl game, and was played at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, San Diego, California. The game started at 5 PM Pacific Time Zone, US PS ...

). The

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, and

2012 Orange Bowl The 2012 Discover Orange Bowl was a postseason college football bowl game on Wednesday, January 4, 2012, at Sun Life Stadium, now known as Hard Rock Stadium, in Miami Gardens, Florida. The West Virginia Mountaineers defeated the Clemson Tigers by a ...

had teams with lower BCS rankings squaring off.

Teams

This was the first meeting between Arkansas and Kansas State in the postseason and the fifth time overall.

Arkansas

Arkansas came into this game with a 10–2 record, including a perfect 7–0 record at home. Arkansas' only losses were on the road to #1 LSU and #2 Alabama. Quarterbacking for the Razorbacks was No. 8 Tyler Wilson (Jr., 6–3, 220). The team was ranked 13th (1st in the SEC) in passing offense (307.8 yards per game) and 27th (1st in SEC) in total offense (445.8 yards per game). In 2011, Wilson threw for 3,422 yards (285 yards per game) for 22 touchdowns with a 63.1 percent pass completion.

Kansas State

2011 National and Big XII Coach of the Year

Bill Snyder William D. Snyder (born October 7, 1939) is a retired college football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Kansas State University from 1989 to 2005 and again from 2009 to 2018. Snyder initially retired from the p ...

brought into this game a successful ground game that went 10–2 during the 2011 season. Quarterbacking for the Wildcats was No. 7 Collin Klein (Jr. 6–5, 226). Klein ranked second nationally in rushing with his 1,099 net yards and had 26 rushing scores. He passed for 12 touchdowns, fifth in the Big XII. Running back John Hubert had 933 rushing yards and three touchdowns for the Wildcats in 2011.

Game summary

Arkansas placekicker Zach Hocker started off the scoring with a 26-yard field goal, to give Arkansas a 3–0 lead. K-State couldn't do anything with the ball early, as the Hogs defense played outstanding against the run for most of the night. After pinning the Wildcats near their own goal line, K-State punted. Arkansas return man Joe Adams fielded that 47 yard kick at the Hogs 49 yard line, got three or four great blocks by his teammates, and ran down the right sideline for a touchdown. It was Adams’ fourth punt returned for a touchdown on the season, and was the first in the Cotton Bowl since Arkansas’

Lance Alworth Lance Dwight Alworth (born August 3, 1940), nicknamed “Bambi”, is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for the San Diego Chargers of the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) an ...

took one back in the 1961 Cotton Bowl versus Duke. After another Hocker field goal to make it 13–0, Arkansas QB Tyler Wilson connected with receiver

Jarius Wright Jarius Wright (born November 25, 1989) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft. He played college football for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks, where ...

on a 45-yard touchdown bomb, stretching Arkansas’ lead to 19–0. Kansas State lineman Raphael Guidry blocked the extra point attempt, and Nigel Malone scooped up the ball and returned it for 2 points, making the Hogs lead 19–2. K-State would get a TD pass from Klein to TE Andre MacDonald just before halftime, setting the score at 19–9. In the 3rd quarter K-State drove 60 yards in just over three minutes, and Klein dove in from the six yard line to cut Arkansas’ lead to 19–16. Two possessions later, the Hogs put together a 68-yard drive that took three minutes and twenty-five seconds. The drive culminated with a 9-yard TD pass from Wilson to

Cobi Hamilton Cobi Hamilton (born November 13, 1990) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at Arkansas. He was considered one of the top wide receiver prospects for the 2013 NFL Draft, and was drafted by the Cincinnati Benga ...

, pushing Arkansas’ lead back to ten points, 26–16. With time winding down, KSU abandoned their vaunted option-style running game, and started throwing the ball. The Razorbacks sacked the K-State QB 7 times, one shy of the record set in the

2000 Cotton Bowl The 2000 SBC Cotton Bowl Classic game was a post-season college football bowl game that took place on Jan. 1, 2000 in Dallas, Texas. The Arkansas Razorbacks defeated the Texas Longhorns 27–6. The Texas Longhorns finished their regular season 9 ...

by Arkansas, in a 27–6 win over Texas. Hocker would add his third field goal to stretch Arkansas’ lead to 29–16, with three and a half minutes to play. On their final possession, KSU only ran for positive yardage once, on a Klein scramble. Most of Klein's completions for the game were underneath the coverage, and for shorter gains. His longest completion went for 23 yards. With under a minute to play, Klein finally went deep. Arkansas rover Jerico Nelson was there for the interception, returning it 61 yards, and sealing the victory for the Hogs. Arkansas improved to 11-2 for the 2011 season, claimed their fourth Cotton Bowl championship (1965, 1976, 2000) in school history, and was ranked #5 in the final polls. It was Arkansas' first 11 win season since 1977. Kansas State fell to 10–3.

Scoring summary

Arkansas QB Tyler Wilson was the Offensive MVP ... 20 completions on 31 attempts (65%), 216 yards, 2 TD; 7 carries for 18 yards. Arkansas DE Jake Bequette was the Defensive MVP ... 5 tackles, 3 sacks, 1 caused fumble.

References

{{Kansas State Wildcats bowl game navbox Cotton Bowl Classic

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 ...

Kansas State Wildcats football bowl games Arkansas Razorbacks football bowl games January 2012 sports events in the United States Cotton Bowl