Cotton Bowl

Cotton Bowl, postseason U.S. collegiate football game played on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day in Arlington, Texas.

(Read Walter Camp’s 1903 Britannica essay on inventing American football.)

The Cotton Bowl was conceived by Dallas oilman J. Curtis Sanford. The first game was played in 1937. After the 1940 game, a group of Dallas citizens acquired control of the game and named themselves the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association, which later that year became an agency of the Southwest Conference. It was the only bowl game controlled and operated by a single athletic conference until the Southwest Conference disbanded in 1996. Formerly one of the four most prestigious bowl games, the Cotton Bowl lost that status in the 1990s when the College Bowl Coalition and then the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) replaced it with the Fiesta Bowl. In 2014 it once again became one of the premier bowl games in the country when it was included in the six-bowl rotation (along with the Fiesta, Orange, Peach, Rose, and Sugar bowls) to host the quarterfinals and semifinals of the College Football Playoff.

A list of Cotton Bowl results is provided in the table.

Cotton Bowl*
season result
*Part of College Football Playoff (CFP) from 2014–15.
**CFP semifinal.
***CFP quarterfinal.
1936–37 Texas Christian 16 Marquette 6
1937–38 Rice 28 Colorado 14
1938–39 St. Mary's (Calif.) 20 Texas Tech 13
1939–40 Clemson 6 Boston College 3
1940–41 Texas A&M 13 Fordham 12
1941–42 Alabama 29 Texas A&M 21
1942–43 Texas 14 Georgia Tech 7
1943–44 Randolph Field 7 Texas 7
1944–45 Oklahoma State 34 Texas Christian 0
1945–46 Texas 40 Missouri 27
1946–47 Arkansas 0 Louisiana State 0
1947–48 Penn State 13 Southern Methodist 13
1948–49 Southern Methodist 21 Oregon 13
1949–50 Rice 27 North Carolina 13
1950–51 Tennessee 20 Texas 14
1951–52 Kentucky 20 Texas Christian 7
1952–53 Texas 16 Tennessee 0
1953–54 Rice 28 Alabama 6
1954–55 Georgia Tech 14 Arkansas 6
1955–56 Mississippi 14 Texas Christian 13
1956–57 Texas Christian 28 Syracuse 27
1957–58 Navy 20 Rice 7
1958–59 Air Force 0 Texas Christian 0
1959–60 Syracuse 23 Texas 14
1960–61 Duke 7 Arkansas 6
1961–62 Texas 12 Mississippi 7
1962–63 Louisiana State 13 Texas 0
1963–64 Texas 28 Navy 6
1964–65 Arkansas 10 Nebraska 7
1965–66 Louisiana State 14 Arkansas 7
1966–67 Georgia 24 Southern Methodist 9
1967–68 Texas A&M 20 Alabama 16
1968–69 Texas 36 Tennessee 13
1969–70 Texas 21 Notre Dame 17
1970–71 Notre Dame 24 Texas 11
1971–72 Penn State 30 Texas 6
1972–73 Texas 17 Alabama 13
1973–74 Nebraska 19 Texas 3
1974–75 Penn State 41 Baylor 20
1975–76 Arkansas 31 Georgia 10
1976–77 Houston 30 Maryland 21
1977–78 Notre Dame 38 Texas 10
1978–79 Notre Dame 35 Houston 34
1979–80 Houston 17 Nebraska 14
1980–81 Alabama 30 Baylor 2
1981–82 Texas 14 Alabama 12
1982–83 Southern Methodist 7 Pittsburgh 3
1983–84 Georgia 10 Texas 9
1984–85 Boston College 45 Houston 28
1985–86 Texas A&M 36 Auburn 16
1986–87 Ohio State 28 Texas A&M 12
1987–88 Texas A&M 35 Notre Dame 10
1988–89 UCLA 17 Arkansas 3
1989–90 Tennessee 31 Arkansas 27
1990–91 Miami (Fla.) 46 Texas 3
1991–92 Florida State 10 Texas A&M 2
1992–93 Notre Dame 28 Texas A&M 3
1993–94 Notre Dame 24 Texas A&M 21
1994–95 Southern California 55 Texas Tech 14
1995–96 Colorado 38 Oregon 6
1996–97 Brigham Young 19 Kansas State 15
1997–98 UCLA 29 Texas A&M 23
1998–99 Texas 38 Mississippi State 11
1999–2000 Arkansas 27 Texas 6
2000–01 Kansas State 35 Tennessee 21
2001–02 Oklahoma 10 Arkansas 3
2002–03 Texas 35 Louisiana State 20
2003–04 Mississippi 31 Oklahoma State 28
2004–05 Tennessee 38 Texas A&M 7
2005–06 Alabama 13 Texas Tech 10
2006–07 Auburn 17 Nebraska 14
2007–08 Missouri 38 Arkansas 7
2008–09 Mississippi 47 Texas Tech 34
2009–10 Mississippi 21 Oklahoma State 7
2010–11 Louisiana State 41 Texas A&M 24
2011–12 Arkansas 29 Kansas State 16
2012–13 Texas A&M 41 Oklahoma 13
2013–14 Missouri 41 Oklahoma State 31
2014–15 Michigan State 42 Baylor 41
2015–16** Alabama 38 Michigan State 0
2016–17 Wisconsin 24 Western Michigan 16
2017–18 Ohio State 24 Southern California 7
2018–19** Clemson 30 Notre Dame 3
2019–20 Penn State 53 Memphis 39
2020–21 Oklahoma 55 Florida 20
2021–22** Alabama 27 Cincinnati 6
2022–23 Tulane 46 USC 45
2023–24 Missouri 14 Ohio State 3
2024–25** Ohio State 28 Texas 14
2025–26*** Miami 24 Ohio State 14
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.
Citation Information
Article Title: Cotton Bowl
Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published: 31 December 2025
Access Date: November 15, 2026