The Cotton Bowl is already going to be a spectacle in itself. After all, it’s the greatest bowl game outside of the BCS four (and you could argue this year that it’s bigger than some within it) and it features two top ten teams competing for national recognition in Bobby Petrino’s Arkansas Razorbacks against Bill Snyder’s Kansas State Wildcats. Two storied coaches. Two top programs. But that doesn’t even include the sheer wonder known as Cowboys Stadium.
Simply put, it’s one of the few places a team can play that can actually serve as a distraction. The Star-Telegraph’s Brent Shirley notes this and says that Arkansas’ experience there might come in handy.
“Arkansas will not intimidated by the Cotton Bowl’s massive arena. For three straight years the Razorbacks have played a regular-season, nonconference game against Texas A&M at Cowboys Stadium,” writes Shirley, “The Razorbacks, who won all three matchups, are comfortable in Arlington.Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino, who called Cowboys Stadium another Razorback home site, said the first time a team plays in the venue, it’s nearly impossible to prevent players from staring at the 60-yard-wide video screen that hangs over the field.”
Bill Snyder has likely thought about the same on the Kansas State side of things, however it’s another element entirely to experience Cowboys Stadium firsthand. It should be interesting to watch how the Wildcats take in the first few drives of the Cotton Bowl.