1993 Cotton Bowl Classic

The 1993 Mobil Cotton Bowl Classic was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1993, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. The bowl game featured the Notre Dame Fighting Irish versus the Southwest Conference champions, Texas A&M. Notre Dame upset the previously undefeated Aggies in a 28–3 victory.^[1]

Matchup

Texas A&M was ranked fourth in the AP Poll entering the game. The Aggies won the Southwest Conference and came into the game with a 12–0 record.^[2] The team was led on offense by running back Greg Hill, who rushed for more than 1300 yards on the season, but he was one of five players suspended for the bowl game after an investigation found that they accepted payment from a team booster.^[3]^[4] Defensive back Aaron Glenn led the Aggie defense with six interceptions that year.^[3]

Notre Dame (9–1–1) was ranked fifth and featured quarterback Rick Mirer and running backs Reggie Brooks and Jerome Bettis.^[5] Brooks finished fifth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy that season.^[6] Bettis rushed for 825 yards on the season. In both 1991 and 1992, Bettis finished third in the NCAA in rushing touchdowns.^[7]

The selection of Texas A&M's opponent generated controversy weeks before the game was played. Notre Dame was chosen by the Cotton Bowl's board of directors, who faced criticism for not selecting the third-ranked Florida State Seminoles. Barry Horn and Darryl Richards of the Dallas Morning News wrote that "the Cotton Bowl not only ignored the wishes of its host school and what many believe is the intent of the first-year Bowl Coalition, but the desire of its new network partner as well."^[8]

NBC Sports televised both the Cotton Bowl and the Orange Bowl that season. The network preferred to have Notre Dame play in its primetime broadcast of the Orange Bowl rather than the Cotton Bowl. Texas A&M would have preferred to face the higher-ranked Seminoles. Board members for the Cotton Bowl said that they considered several factors, including the potential for ticket sales and the wishes of the network. Board members pointed out the Texas A&M-Florida State matchup at the 1992 Cotton Bowl Classic, saying that they preferred to avoid a rematch in consecutive years. Notre Dame honored the invitation of the Cotton Bowl board.^[8]

Game summary

During the first possession of the game, Texas A&M recovered a fumble that occurred on a pitch from Mirer to Brooks but did not score. Notre Dame threw 15 passes in the first half and scored just before halftime to make the score 7–0. The Fighting Irish threw only three passes in the second half and its rushing game took control. Notre Dame had a run of 34 consecutive running plays at one point in the second half. The team netted 290 rushing yards, including 115 yards from Brooks, 75 yards from Bettis and 55 rushing yards from Mirer. Mirer finished with 119 passing yards. Bettis scored three of the team's four touchdowns.^[9]

In the second half, Texas A&M recovered a fumble by Brooks at their own 4-yard line. Two plays later, Texas A&M quarterback Corey Pullig fumbled the ball and Notre Dame recovered. The Aggies scored their only points on a 41-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. The Fighting Irish won the game by a score of 28–3.^[9]

References

↑ AT&T Cotton Bowl History. AT&T Cotton Bowl. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
↑ "1992 Texas A&M Aggies Schedule and Results". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
1 2 "1992 Texas A&M Aggies Stats". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
↑ Harvey, Randy (December 30, 1993). "Triple Threat : Texas A&M Tailbacks Hill, Thomas and McElroy Have Combined for 2,316 Yards Rushing and 26 Touchdowns". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
↑ "1992 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Stats". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
↑ "1992 - 57th Award". Heisman Trophy. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
↑ "Jerome Bettis Stats". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
1 2 "NBC's Irish eyes aren't smiling over Cotton Bowl pairing either". Baltimore Sun. December 9, 1992. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
1 2 "Irish Dominate Aggies in Cotton Bowl". University of Notre Dame. Retrieved January 1, 2014.

1992–93 NCAA football bowl game season

Las Vegas (Dec. 18) Aloha (Dec. 25) Copper (Dec. 29) Freedom (Dec. 29) Holiday (Dec. 30) Liberty (Dec. 31) Independence (Dec. 31) Hall of Fame (Jan. 1) Florida Citrus (Jan. 1) Rose (Jan. 1) Peach (Jan. 2)

Bowl Coalition games: John Hancock (Dec. 31) Gator (Dec. 31) Blockbuster (Jan. 1) Sugar (Jan. 1) Orange (Jan. 1) Fiesta (Jan. 1) Cotton (Jan. 1)

Cotton Bowl Classic

History & conference tie-ins	History Cotton Bowl AT&T Stadium College Football Playoff Broadcasters Playoff At-Large Group of Five

Games	1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1966 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2015 2017

Notes	There was a Cotton Bowl Classic in January and December in 1966 and 2015. There was no Cotton Bowl Classic in 1967. The game was a College Football Playoff semifinal in its December 2015 edition.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish bowl games

Pound sign (#) denotes national championship game.

Texas A&M Aggies bowl games

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