Cotton Bowl out of Dallas, Texas:
#7 Arkansas (10-2, 6-2, 3rd in the SEC West) vs. #11 Kansas State (10-2, 7-2, 2nd in the Big 12)
This is not a BCS Bowl...but it should be. It's got the history and it's got two of the best teams in the nation squaring off against one another.
Arkansas is not in a BCS Bowl game because it's in the SEC West along with Alabama and LSU. That's the only way you end up third in your conference division with just two losses. And Kansas State is second in the Big 12 behind #3 Oklahoma State to whom it lost 52-45 in the regular season and the Big 12 has no conference championship game in which the Wildcats could seek revenge.
Arkansas’ two losses this year came at the hands of Alabama (38-14) in the fourth week of September and of LSU (41-17) in the final game of the regular season. Kansas State’s two losses came in back to back games to Oklahoma (58-17) and Oklahoma State (52-45) in games 8 and 9. KState then finished the season with three consecutive victories.
Arkansas Junior Tyler Wilson passed for 3422 yards and 22 touchdowns with only 6 interceptions. The Razorbacks were 13th in passing offense and 23rd overall. On defense they were ranked 50th in the nation--24th passing defense, 75th against the rush.
Junior quarterback Collin Klein led the Wildcats with 1745 yards and 12 touchdowns passing while tossing only 5 interceptions. He also had 1099 yards rushing for 26 touchdowns. Even so, Kansas State ranked only 91st in the nation on offense, 105th in passing. On defense they were 33rd against the rush and 99th against the pass for a total of 70th overall.
Summation: Arkansas has a rushing defense that the Wildcats can exploit. The Wildcats pass defense is itself exploitable. So, the outcome of this game will be how well Wilson can pass versus how well Klein can run, and which defense stiffens up against its weaknesses and which team can win the turnovers.
This will be a close game. Klein and the Wildcats will come through, however. Kansas State wins 31-27
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