1995 Cotton Bowl Classic

December 2025 August 2023 Cotton Bowl Classic Mobil January 2 1995 1994 File:View from Top o' Texas Tower September 2019 10 (Cotton Bowl).jpg The Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, hosted the Cotton Bowl Classic. 59th Cotton Bowl Classic University of Southern California USC Trojans 7–3–1 21 22 22 John Robinson Pac-10 28 6 14 7 Texas Tech University Texas Tech Red Raiders 6–5 Spike Dykes SWC 0 0 7 7 WR Keyshawn Johnson (USC)CB John Herpin (USC) Cotton Bowl Dallas, Texas Al Ford (SEC) 70,218 NBC Jim Lampley and Todd Christensen The 1995 Mobil Cotton Bowl was the 59th Cotton Bowl Classic. The USC Trojans defeated the Texas Tech Red Raiders, 55–14. The Trojans took a 21–0 lead less than ten minutes into the game and led 34–0 at halftime. USC wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson, who finished with eight catches for a Cotton Bowl-record 222 yards and three touchdowns, was named offensive MVP. Trojan cornerback John Herpin had two interceptions, one for a touchdown, and was named defensive MVP.Dallas Morning News, "Tech-Nical Knockout for USC", 1/3/96 The game was televised nationally by NBC for the third consecutive year. The Cotton Bowl Classic would return to its longtime television home, CBS, the next year. It was also the last year that Mobil served as the game's title sponsor; the following year, the Cotton Bowl organizers began a seventeen-year relationship with what is now AT&T. Background SWC's final Cotton Bowl Beginning with the 1940 season, the Cotton Bowl was officially hosted by the SWC's designated champion, and was operated by the SWC. In late February 1994, Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, and Texas Tech accepted invitations to join with the members of the Big Eight Conference to form the Big 12 Conference.Associated Press. (1994 February 27). Big 8 gain marks end for current Southwest Conference. In April 1994, Rice, SMU, and TCU accepted invitations to join the Western Athletic Conference. In 1995, Houston agreed to join Conference USA. The SWC would officially dissolve in the spring of 1996. In 1994 it was announced that the Bowl Alliance would be replacing the Bowl Coalition in 1995. The major difference between the two was the number of "Tier 1" bowls shrunk from four to three. In August 1994, after hearing proposals from each bowl, the Alliance announced that the Fiesta, Orange, and Sugar would be the three "Tier 1" bowls.Associated Press. (1995 August 5). Cotton Bowl gets left out in cold; Sugar, Orange, Fiesta get big game. The Cotton Bowl was left out of the Alliance. Coupled with the 1995 SWC champion being granted an at-large bid to an Alliance bowl, the SWC gave up control of the Cotton Bowl. This assured that the 59th Cotton Bowl Classic would be the final appearance by the SWC champion. Match-up SWC five team tiebreaker Texas A&M finished atop the 1994 SWC standings (6-0-1). However the Aggies were ineligible to participate in a bowl game due to NCAA sanctions. Following A&M in the standings was a logjam of five teams, Texas Tech, Texas, Baylor, Rice, TCU, all with a 4-3-0 conference record. The SWC's official tiebreaker procedure regarding three or more teams was twofold. Step 1; head to head results. This step did not apply as the five teams all went 2-2-0 against each other. The final step, last used in 1975, was simple: the team with the longest Cotton Bowl appearance drought would be placed first. Based on this, Texas Tech, which had never represented the SWC in the Cotton Bowl since joining the conference in 1960, won the tiebreaker.Associated Press. (1994 November 25). Tech 100% Cotton. +TeamMost RecentCotton BowlAppearanceCotton Bowls Hosted asDesignated SWC ChampionTexas Tech 1938 0 Rice 1957 3TCU 1958 5Baylor 1980 2 Texas 1990 19 Texas Tech Red Raiders The Red Raiders finished 1–3 against ranked opponents, beating #19 Texas, but losing to #1 Nebraska, #21 Oklahoma, and #10 Texas A&M. USC Trojans USC's appearance was only the third in Cotton Bowl history by a team from the Pacific-10 Conference, following that of Oregon in 1949 and UCLA in 1989. Scoring summary USC - Shawn Walters 11-yard touchdown run (Ford kick), 6:51 remaining USC - Terry Barnum 19-yard touchdown pass from Rob Johnson (Ford kick), 6:39 remaining USC - John Herpin 26-yard interception return (Ford kick), 5:35 remaining USC - Keyshawn Johnson 12-yard touchdown pass from R. Johnson (Ford kick), 2:22 remaining USC - Ford 39-yard field goal, 6:50 remaining USC - Ford 42-yard field goal, 0:17 remaining USC - K. Johnson 22-yard touchdown pass from R. Johnson (Ford kick), 10:29 remaining USC - K. Johnson 86-yard touchdown pass from R. Johnson (Ford kick), 7:51 remaining Texas Tech - Zebbie Lethridge 5-yard touchdown run (Davis kick), 2:15 remaining USC - Jeff Diltz 2-yard touchdown pass from Brad Otton (Ford kick), 2:40 remaining Texas Tech - Stacy Mitchell 45-yard touchdown pass from Sone Cavazos (Davis kick), 0:00 remaining Wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson caught 8 passes for 222 yards and 3 touchdowns as USC trounced Texas Tech, who did not score until it was 48–0.http://www.texastech.com/sports/2016/6/9/auto-pdf-p-hotos-s-chools-text-sports-m-footbl-auto-pdf-05mediaguide-bowlhistory.aspx Auto PDF p hotos s chools text sports m footbl auto PDF 05mediaguide bowlhistory Statistics Statistics Texas Tech USCFirst downs 14 21Rushing yards 55 143Passing yards 205 435Total offense 260 578Passing 15-37-2 24–35–0Punts-Average 10–38.0 4-43.0Return yards 4 63Fumbles-Lost 4-2 1-1Penalties-Yards 2-20 12–133 References Cotton Bowl Category:Cotton Bowl Classic Category:USC Trojans football bowl games Category:Texas Tech Red Raiders football bowl games Category:Bowl Coalition Category:January 1995 sports events in the United States Category:1995 in sports in Texas Category:1990s in Dallas