Saturday, January 1
Cobbs makes up for missed start
Associated Press
DALLAS -- Arkansas freshman tailback Cedric Cobbs missed his
chance to start in the Cotton Bowl, but still played long enough
and well enough to be the game's offensive MVP.
Cobbs ran for 98 yards on 15 carries, including a 37-yard
touchdown, and caught a 30-yard touchdown pass that put the
Razorbacks (8-4) ahead for good in a 27-6 victory over Texas (9-5)
on Saturday.
During the regular season, Cobbs led the Razorbacks in rushing
even though he started in just one game. He was scheduled to get
his second start in the Cotton Bowl, but was replaced in the
starting lineup by senior Chrys Chukwuma after he missed a team
meeting this week.
The defensive MVP was Arkansas senior tackle D.J. Cooper, who
had five solo tackles, including two of the Razorbacks' eight
sacks.
White Texas
For the first time in 21 Cotton Bowl appearances,
Texas served as the visiting team and wore white jerseys.
In the second year of the bowl's agreement matching teams from
the Big 12 and the Southeastern Conference, SEC representative
Arkansas served as the home team against Texas.
Last year, it was Texas of the Big 12 serving as the home team
in a 38-11 victory over the SEC's Mississippi State.
Prior to that, the Southwest Conference champion had always
served as the bowl's home team. That was Texas, 19 times from
1943-91.
Cotton sleepover
Cotton Bowl media relations director Charlie
Fiss and four of his staff members slept in the press box on New
Year's Eve.
Fiss and his staff were in place for a Y2K test at the stadium
after midnight, just 10 hours before kickoff. There were no
problems with the computers in the press box so the media relations
staff bunked on the floor.
"It didn't take long, there was not any Y2K problem," Fiss
said. "But we felt if we overslept, we'd do it here and let you
guys (reporters) wake us up."
There are no plans to make the sleepovers a tradition.
"This was a once-in-a-lifetime, we'll only do this once every
1,000 years," said Fiss, who slept for only about four hours
before waking at 5 a.m.
Extra points
Arkansas recorded a season-best eight sacks in
the Cotton Bowl on Saturday, topping the previous high of seven
sacks in a season-opening 26-0 victory over SMU at the same stadium
... Not since Bear Bryant's Kentucky team beat TCU in the 1952
Cotton Bowl had two teams with four losses played in the New Year's
Day game before the Texas-Arkansas matchup ... Texas junior kicker
Kris Stockton broke a school record with his 21st field goal of the
season, a 35-yarder in the second quarter. He added another field
goal in the third quarter.
