AT&T Cotton Bowl: No. 11 LSU Tigers (10-2) vs. No. 17 Texas A&M Aggies (9-3)

Date: Friday, January 7th, 2011

Location: Arlington, Texas

Time: 8:00 p.m. EST

A day after the GoDaddy.com Bowl, LSU takes on Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl. It features two teams from power conferences who stumbled at inopportune times during the season and are now looking to prove themselves. LSU’s two losses came against Auburn and the season finale at Arkansas. The Tigers finished tied in the SEC West and find themselves in the Cotton Bowl for the first time since 2003 when they lost to Texas. LSU has a stellar defense, ranking eighth in the nation at 300 yards per game allowed and ninth in points allowed at 17.8. Junior cornerback Patrick Peterson anchors the defense and won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s best defensive back. Running back Stevan Ridley is eligible to play after a successful appeal over an academic violation. The junior has 1,042 yards and 14 touchdowns on the season.

This is the 12th Cotton Bowl appearance for Texas A&M, going 4-7. The Aggies haven’t done well in recent bowls, losing eight of their last nine. But, they finished at the top of the Big 12 South, tied with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. They beat Oklahoma late in the season but didn’t get a shot at the conference title because of three straight losses to Oklahoma State, Arkansas and Missouri. The offense averaged 447 total yards. They are a passing team, but running back Cyrus Gray finished the season with more than 100 yards in each of his last six games. The junior finished the season with 1,033 yards and 12 touchdowns. The Aggies won six straight to close out the season.

My Pick: My college football bet is that LSU’s defense outplays Texas A&M’s offense. Though LSU struggled to find the end zone against Tennessee and Auburn, I’m backing LSU’s defense to come through and win it 24-17.

Money Line (odds provided by Party Bets)

LSU: 5/6

Texas A&M: 1/1

Point Spread: LSU -1.5

Over/Under: 49