Cotton Bowl question

Does anybody else NOT want to see us in the Cotton Bowl?

Some of you are too young to remember it, but for years these guys screwed over LSU, most famously in 1969 when one of the greatest Tiger teams of all time was passed over at the last minute because the Cotton decided to invite Notre Dame.

Last year they embarrassed Miles and Bertman after that ill-advised trip to Dallas during SECCG week. Instead, they took a dull-ass Alabama team that we had already beaten.

LSU sorta got the last laugh, because the Peach Bowl matched two Top 10 teams and its TV ratings crushed the Cotton Bowl's.

But really, this is a dying game played in a crumbling stadium with a totally ridiculous starting time (10 a.m.!!!). The locker rooms are supposed to be so bad that teams have to do interviews in tents across the street. The neighborhood around the Cotton Bowl is said to be dangerous.

And who would we play this year? Oklahoma? Texas A&M? (Yawn) Great. Two teams that lost (or are about to lose to) Texas, and I know that we could beat Texas by two touchdowns. (Our defense is much better, Texas hasn't played anybody but Ohio State (and lost), and even our third-string QB is better than Texas' starter. (Mack Brown himself once told Perrilloux that he would start ahead of Colt McCoy).)

I'll be the one in the stands Saturday with the "Anywhere But Cotton" sign.

 

They are redoing the Cotton Bowl for next season. Won't help at all for this years game but they are adding to the capacity as well as updating it. I was just there for the OU-Texas game and its a crappy place but they are working on it.

The neighborhood is in fact dangerous...

 

The Cotton Bowl is a dump, but it pays out pretty well. I want to say it's $1.4M, but I'm not sure. I'm hoping for the Cotton Bowl for purely selfish reasons, as it's an easy drive from here.

They are both redshirt freshmen. McCoy was recruited at the last minute, after Perrilloux changed his commitment. I want to say he was a two or maybe three star QB coming out of high school, so it's perfectly reasonable to think Mack told RP he would start. Remember that at the time, Vince Young hadn't developed into the player he was last year either.

 

A bond package just passed on Tuesday for major renovations for the Cotton Bowl because it is in terrible shape.

The neighborhood around it is bad, but no worse than bad areas of Baton Rouge, and better than bad areas of New Orleans--but I would never park in an off-site lot because every year on the news up here there are reports of some con men having people pay for parking, take off with the money, then the city comes and tows the cars. That's disgusting, and I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why the city of Dallas doesn't crack down on this (since they tow the cars, I wonder if they aren't in on it, too). It happened just a few weeks ago for the UT/OU game.

I think, if we win out, that we'd be in one of the Florida bowls, though.

I believe, however, that the start time for the Cotton this year is 11:30, not 10, like the last time we played. I remember that well because we had to get up so early to drop my baby daughter off at a friend's house in Dallas, that none of the breakfast establishments were open yet up in the far north Dallas area where we live. We had to eat the worst $8 burger I've ever had outside the stadium for breakfast.

 

I'm still holding out hope that we'll run the table and receive a BCS bowl bid. If not, I guess there are seven options. I've been to the Cotton, Capital One, and Chick-fil-A (Peach) bowls in the last few years and would prefer a change of scenery.

Nothing against the Independence but it's in our backyard. That leaves the Music City, Liberty, and Outback. The Outback would seem to be a good fit but they have a history of screwing the SEC West so we probably wouldn't receive an invite. I don't believe they deserve LSU, AU, or Arkansas. (Let 'em sit on the barbie, mate.)

I wouldn't mind going to Nashville or Memphis but the Music City and Liberty Bowls aren't upper lever tiered bowls.

LSU vs. USC in the Rose would be nice. We could bring our tailgating to the land of fruits and nuts!

 

Dallas in January isn't necessarily miserable, but it certainly is unpredictable. We have had everything from 80 degree days to severe thunderstorms/tornadoes (there was a warning the day before the '03 Cotton Bowl) to ice storms to snow.

You can also really hope that it isn't a cold, windy day. I've read that Dallas is actually more windy than Chicago--so a north wind is rather chilly here.