After falling short of a trip to the Southeastern Conference Championship game, the LSU football team received a nice consolation prize when the SBC Cotton Bowl invited the Tigers to play perennial powerhouse University of Texas Longhorns on New Year’s Day 2003.
The 10 a.m. kickoff in Dallas manifests quite a different football atmosphere than LSU fans are used to, but Cotton Bowl officials said it is the only way they can keep their relationship with the SEC.
“When we started our relationship with the SEC, there was already a contract in place with the SEC and the Citrus Bowl,” said Rick Baker, president of the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association. “The Citrus Bowl mandates that there is no [television] overlap, or very little overlap, with the Citrus Bowl and another SEC [game]. We could have had another conference relationship, but we thought the relationship with the SEC was important enough that a 10 a.m. start was satisfactory.”
This is the Tigers’ first appearance in the storied bowl since beating an undefeated Arkansas team, 14-7, in 1966. And it marks the first time LSU and Texas have faced off since the 13-0 LSU win in the 1963 Cotton Bowl. The Longhorns hold a 8-7-1 advantage over the Tigers in the series.
“To say the least, everybody at the SBC Cotton Bowl, everyone in the city of Dallas and the state of Texas is excited about this particular matchup,” Baker said.
No. 9 Texas enters the Cotton Bowl with a 10-2 record (6-2 in the Big XII), losing to Oklahoma and instate rival Texas Tech. The Longhorns hold a 10-10-1 record at the Cotton Bowl, last appearing on Jan. 1, 2000 in a 27-6 loss to Arkansas.
“I love playing to the level of competition,” said LSU linebacker Bradie James. “And this is a high level of competition. It brings out the best in me; not only me, but everybody.”
Last season, LSU finished the season with a 47-34 win over Illinois in the Nokia Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day, and this is the first time since the 1966 season the Tigers have played in consecutive New Year’s Day bowl games.
“This is just really a wonderful opportunity for Louisiana State University,” said LSU Chancellor Mark Emmert. “It’s a terrific chance for [the LSU players] to go to a storied bowl. It’s a bowl with great tradition, with great history. It’s a marquee matchup on national TV on Jan. 1.”