MANHATTAN, Kan. | Kansas State football fans went to bed Sunday night disappointed about the Wildcats’ missing out on an at-large bid to a BCS bowl game.
But Cotton Bowl chairman Tommy Bain is confident they will wake up today eager about their postseason destination.K-State, which ended the regular season at 10-2 and ranked eighth in the BCS standings, is headed to the Cotton Bowl to take on Arkansas, which finished with an identical record and is No. 6 in the BCS standings. They will play on Jan. 6 at state-of-the-art Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.On paper, it’s the top bowl game the Big 12 has to offer outside the BCS. But this year the experience could be special.“We consider ourselves just like a BCS bowl,” Bain said. “This year we will have No. 6 vs. No. 8. That’s the third-best matchup outside of the national championship game. … I think fans are going to appreciate probably the finest stadium in the world. It will be a championship-type atmosphere. I think everyone will really enjoy it.”The Wildcats will make their first trip to the Cotton Bowl since 2001, when they defeated Tennessee 35-21 on New Year’s Day. They also played there in 1997, losing 19-15 to BYU.Both those games were played on New Year’s Day at the actual Cotton Bowl, and K-State fans turned out in big numbers to watch. The Dallas area is one of K-State’s largest alumni bases. Wildcats coach Bill Snyder fondly remembers being greeted by 55,000 supporters a decade ago as much as the bowl victory.“That was very impressive for me and for all K-Staters,” Snyder said, “and it was very impressive for the Cotton Bowl.”Coming into the season, when K-State was picked to finish near the bottom of the Big 12 standings, fans would have done backflips over a trip to the Cotton Bowl. But their reaction was much more subdued Sunday night.After beating Iowa State on Saturday, the Wildcats looked like strong contenders for a spot in the Sugar Bowl. But Michigan and Virginia Tech, two teams ranked lower than K-State in the final BCS standings, were selected instead.The Sugar Bowl had targeted Michigan and its large national fan base all along. Sugar Bowl chief executive officer Paul Hoolahan said Virginia Tech’s proven history of bringing fans to New Orleans was “extremely important,” trumping Tech’s dismal 38-10 loss to Clemson in Saturday’s ACC title game and not-so-stellar fan support while playing in the Orange Bowl three of the last four years.Currie was asked about missing out on the BCS, but he directed all of his focus on the Cotton Bowl. After fighting through a blizzard to reach the Pinstripe Bowl last year, he thinks Arlington, Texas, will sound good to fans.“The Cotton Bowl experience is the highest level of experience,” Currie said. “ … We are really looking forward to the opportunity.”So are K-State’s football players.“The opportunity to play in one of the top stadiums in the world and the best bowls in the country is a great reward for our hard work this season,” senior safety Tysyn Hartman said in a statement.The game should be a good one. The Razorbacks finished third in the Southeastern Conference West, and the only two games they lost all season were to Alabama and LSU — the teams that will play for the BCS title. Snyder said he expects K-State to be a big underdog in the game. But he also expects the Wildcats to be ready for the challenge.If both teams play as well as they did in the regular season, it could be a good one.
TICKET INFORMATION
A sellout crowd of more than 75,000 is predicted at the Cotton Bowl. K-State athletic director John Currie said the university sold its entire ticket allotment of 12,500 through presale orders Wednesday. Fans still looking for tickets are encouraged to visit the Cotton Bowl’s website and buy them through the game’s official ticket exchange.
A sellout crowd of more than 75,000 is predicted at the Cotton Bowl. K-State athletic director John Currie said the university sold its entire ticket allotment of 12,500 through presale orders Wednesday. Fans still looking for tickets are encouraged to visit the Cotton Bowl’s website and buy them through the game’s official ticket exchange.
