As a former quarterback, Alabama coach Mike Shula can appreciate how much fun it must be to run Texas Tech's offense. And after watching plenty of it while preparing for today's Cotton Bowl, Shula knows what a bad fit he would've been in the pass-happy system.

On a wall in a conference room in the shadow of the state Capitol hangs a painting that freezes the pivotal moment of the Texas victory over Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl that sewed up the 1969 national ...

Played in Dallas every year since 1929, and in the Cotton Bowl since it opened in 32, the Oklahoma-Texas game embodies the concept of a neutral site. Its held about a three-hour drive from each campus with the fandom split 50-50, right at midfield.

The SEC has agreed to four-year contracts with five bowl games, in addition to it's BCS arrangement, running from 2006-2009. The SEC will be represented in the Capital One in Orlando, the SBC Cotton Bowl in Dallas, the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, the Music City in Nashville and the Outback in Tampa.The SEC is still in discussion with three bowls - with the Liberty Bowl being one of the three - to solidify the final two bowl slots the conference is seeking. The Cotton Bowl had thought they might be able to convince the conference to swap a bowl berth with Notre Dame once during the four year period (filling the Irish's spot in another bowl), but apparently that detail has fallen through as there was no word from either the SEC or the Cotton Bowl on such an arrangement. www.fanblogs.co mComment on SEC announces five bowl agreements...

On a wall in a conference room in the shadow of the state Capitol hangs a painting that freezes the pivotal moment of the Texas victory over Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl that sewed up the 1969 national championship. Senior quarterback James Street is on the sidelines talking to Coach Darrell Royal under a scoreboard showing that it's fourth-and-two on the Notre Dame 10-yard line with just over two minutes to go and Texas trailing 17-14.

Cotton is still king around West Texas. Just ask Texas Tech University officials, who were thinking about taking cotton bolls off the university's seal.

Colt McCoy completed 11-of-18 passes for 108 yards to go along with two touchdowns... to lead seventh-ranked Texas past 14th- ranked Oklahoma... 28-10... in the 101st rendition of the Red River Rivalry at the Cotton Bowl.