Missouri and Arkansas meet for the first time since 2003

By Ryan Huber

Published Dec. 4, 2007

With the then-No. 1 Missouri and then-No. 2 West Virginia football teams losing this past weekend, it was anyone's wildest guess as to how the bowl team selections would filter down.

Missouri announced Sunday evening it had accepted an invitation to the 72nd edition of the Cotton Bowl, the first New Year's Day bowl for the Tigers since 1970.

The matchup features No. 7 Missouri and the No. 25 Arkansas Razorbacks in a rematch of the 2003 Independence Bowl, when Arkansas pulled out a 24-17 win.

"We're playing our first Jan. 1 bowl, a very prestigious bowl in Dallas, Tex., which is one of our out-of-state recruiting areas, one of our most important areas," coach Gary Pinkel said at the press conference. "And certainly we have a great alumni base there. It is exciting. It is an opportunity for us, certainly, to finish the season on a positive note."

Less than 24 hours removed from a game in which the Tigers could have punched their ticket to New Orleans and the Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game, many players said the bowl selection was rewarding, but not as much as the team would have liked.

"It means a lot," senior defensive tackle Lorenzo Williams said of the selection. "We definitely wanted more. It was right there for us and we didn't take advantage of it. I'm pretty sure later on in life I am really going to appreciate it, but the day after a loss doesn't feel so good."

Senior tight end Martin Rucker had a different take on the bowl announcement.

"One of my goals was to start a football season in one year and end it in the next," he said. "Goal attained."

Junior quarterback Chase Daniel grew up 15 minutes away from Cotton Bowl Stadium and said he attended several games there, including last year's game between Auburn and Nebraska. Playing so close to home and being around familiar surroundings, he said, will ease his nerves at such a big game.

"Its one of the biggest bowls in history, including some of the BCS bowls," he said. "You have the national championship, you have the four BCS bowls and then, in my mind, out of any other conference, it's got to be the Cotton Bowl."

With a record of 8-4, Arkansas will be the second Southeastern Conference opponent for the Tigers this season after the Tigers beat Mississippi away from home. The Razorback program touts a running back tandem of sophomore Felix Jones and junior Heisman Trophy candidate Darren McFadden.

"Anytime you go up against Heisman Trophy candidates who, week in and week out, are doing things that are pretty much unbelievable, it's definitely a challenge for your defense to go against them," Williams said. "It's going to be different though. You don't have just a week to get ready for them, you have a whole month."

Athletic director Mike Alden was in attendance for the news conference and was all smiles following the announcement.

"There are people all over the country that have grown up with the Cotton Bowl," he said. "It's been around forever, it's on New Year's Day and it's a major bowl. It's something that really gives us an opportunity to really showcase the University of Missouri. Not just for the athletic program but for the whole university. What a great advertising vehicle for our institution."