College Football
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.

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Arkansas rips Texas in Cotton Bowl

Arkansas defense comes up with record-setting day

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