NEWS RELEASES

After touching down in North Texas earlier in the day, the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide wasted no time getting back to work on the practice field with its first workout on Saturday afternoon at Coppell High School.

The Crimson Tide (12-1, 8-1 SEC) went through an upbeat, 90-minute session in shells and shorts in the indoor practice facility for the Class 6A Cowboys football team. Coach Nick Saban said his second-seeded Tide are happy to be back in the College Football Playoff for a second year in a row and back in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic to face the No.

The College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic rolled out the crimson carpet for the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday morning. The Tide touched down at Dallas Love Field and were welcomed by a large crowd of Cotton Bowl Board and Council members along with the Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet Center Marching Band.

Shortly after the team arrived, the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic hosted an arrival news conference at the Hilton Anatole for the team.

The Michigan State Spartans are in the house!

Coach Mark Dantonio and his No. 3 ranked Spartans touched down at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport late Christmas afternoon to begin preparations for the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on December 31.

The Spartans received an enthusiastic Texas welcome with a “Shower of Affection” from water cannons manned by members of the DFW Airport Fire Department. After being greeted by CBAA Chairman Dan Novakov, the team and athletic staff boarded buses for Grapevine’s Gaylord Texan Resort, the Michigan State’s team headquarters for the week ahead.

NO. 2 ALABAMA VS. NO. 3 MICHIGAN STATE TO CLASH ON NEW YEAR’S EVE

No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 3 Michigan State…Saban vs. Dantonio…Saban vs. his old team.

The storylines are abundant as the two college football heavyweights prepare to meet at the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.

A sellout crowd will descend on AT&T Stadium on New Year’s Eve to witness a battle of SEC and Big Ten Conference champions with the winner advancing to Arizona for a shot at the College Football Playoff National Championship.

The College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic will be played in front of a packed house on New Year’s Eve. The Classic announced today that the 80th Goodyear Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium is officially sold out of reserved and club seating.

For the first time since the Classic’s move to AT&T Stadium in 2010, the Goodyear Cotton Bowl is placing a limited number of standing-room-only tickets (Spirit Passes) on sale to the general public before knowing the participating teams.

The Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic announced on Thursday a new partnership with Tailgate Guys to create the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic Tailgate Club. The event will provide fans with a unique tailgating experience as the Classic prepares to host the College Football Playoff Semifinal on New Year’s Eve at AT&T Stadium. 

Fans that buy into The Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic Tailgate Club will enjoy a first-class turnkey tailgate experience within the beautiful surroundings of Richard Greene Linear Park located just steps away from AT&T Stadium.

The Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic is rolling out a new look for the College Football Playoff  Semifinal on New Year’s Eve. For nearly a decade, Dallas-based brand identity agency, Torch Creative, has collaborated with the Classic to develop and design a primary graphic that is unique to each year's game.

The primary graphic for the 80th Cotton Bowl plays up the festive nature of the Classic’s kickoff on New Year’s Eve with fireworks coming together over AT&T Stadium to form an abstract version of a cotton boll.

The 2015 Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic Art Contest has begun and is now accepting entries from local young artists. All North Texas students in first through sixth grade are invited to participate. Art contest materials, including the illustration template, can be downloaded online at www.cottonbowl.com/fan-zone/art-contest/. The deadline to mail in the illustrations is Friday, October 9th. The winners are determined by a select group of judges and notified by the end of October.
“For 19 years now we have enjoyed engaging with the younger sports fans in the Metroplex through our art contest,” Goodyear Cotton Bowl President Rick Baker said, “We hope that art teachers from across the North Texas community will encourage their students to participate.

The Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic lost one of its legends on Friday, August 28, when Ms. Betty Sanford passed away after a lengthy illness.

Ms. Sanford, 97, was the widow of J. Curtis Sanford, who founded the Cotton Bowl Classic in 1937.

“Ms. Sanford was such a sweet and special person,” CBAA president Rick Baker said. “The fact that she was so engaged and involved with our game for so many years shows how deeply she cared about the success of the Goodyear Cotton Bowl.

DALLAS (FWAA) – The Football Writers Association of America proudly announces its 75th Anniversary All-America Team, celebrating the association's All-America teams from near the end of World War II through the 2014 season. The FWAA, which was founded in 1941, has picked an annual All-America team since the 1944 season, making it the second longest continuously selected team in major college football.

The FWAA's first All-America team in 1944 included Army's famous running back tandem of Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis and Georgia Tech's Frank Broyles, who later became Arkansas' legendary head football coach.

Fans have voted Michigan State’s thrilling, come-from-behind, 42-41 victory over Baylor in the Cotton Bowl Classic as the No. 1 college football game of 2014 and, as a result, it will conclude The Top 25 College Football Games of 2014 on Sunday, Aug. 2 at 10 p.m. on ESPNU.

Ticket holders for the Goodyear Cotton Bowl should start watching for the arrival of renewal packets this week and begin gearing up for the Classic’s 80th anniversary game on Thursday, December 31.

Not only is this a special anniversary year for the Goodyear Cotton Bowl, but the Classic  also steps back into the national spotlight as one of two national semifinal games in the College Football Playoff. The winning team advances to Glendale, Ariz., on January 11 to compete for the 2016 national championship.

Baylor was out to make a statement to the College Football Playoff committee. The only problem: Michigan State came to play.

Connor Cook passed for 314 yards and two touchdowns and Jeremy Langford rushed for 162 yards and three touchdowns as Michigan State completed a 20-point rally to top Baylor, 42-41, in the Good Year Cotton Bowl Classic at AT&T stadium on Thursday.

Down 41-21, Connor Cook hit Josiah Price for an 8-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter. The Spartans recovered an onside kick, but on the third play of the drive, Baylor linebacker Taylor Young intercepted a Cook pass.

Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty claimed the 79th annual Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic’s J. Curtis Sanford Offensive MVP Award after totaling 550 passing yards, three passing touchdowns and one rushing score in the New Year’s Day game at AT&T Stadium.

Despite the Baylor loss, 42-41, to eighth-ranked Michigan State, Petty set the Classic record for passing yards and closed out his senior season with a strong offensive performance.

The senior’s 550 passing yards was a career high as well as a record for a Classic contest.

Taylor Young may be small in stature, but in Thursday’s 79th annual Cotton Bowl Classic, he left little doubt he plays a big game.

The redshirt freshman played the best game of his young career by racking up 15 tackles and taking a fourth-quarter interception to the house that would have likely sealed the Baylor win if it weren’t for penalty on the return. Instead, the Bears lost in the final minute, leaving Young to accept the McKnight Trophy representing the game’s outstanding defensive player as a consolation prize.