The Cotton Bowl is always one of the most illustrious of the non-BCS bowl games, and once again, this year's battle on the NCAA football betting odds is going to pit two teams against each other that are definitely of BCS quality. The Kansas State Wildcats will take on the Arkansas Razorbacks.
The Hogs were the bad luck team this year. They had to go on the road to the LSU Tigers and the Alabama Crimson Tide, and they were beaten in both games and beaten badly. Of course, there wasn't any shame in either of the losses, but in the end, the losses were losses, and when LSU and Alabama combined for just the one loss between them, there was no hope of being in the BCS. If Arkansas can win this game though, it could finish ranked in the Top 5 in the country, and that would leave all three teams from the SEC West in the Top 5 at season's end, which was almost as impressive as when they were ranked Nos. 1, 2, and 3 at the same time.
The Arkansas offense moves up and down the field with tremendous ease at times thanks to the play of QB Tyler Wilson. Of course, we can only imagine how good this team would have been had WR Greg Childs not battled injuries for the majority of the season, RB Knile Davis not missed the whole year, and other running backs not been hurt... And of course, we can only imagine how many yards QB Ryan Mallett would have thrown for had he come back to school for his senior season.
None of this really bodes well for Kansas State. Pretty much no one in the country really thinks that this is one of the best teams in the land, and it seems like a logical conclusion that a team that has no passing game whatsoever and ranks No. 105 in the land against the pass is going to struggle.
However, we point at a few games this year and wonder just how good the Wildcats can be. They withstood the Texas A&M Aggies in multiple OTs at home, they beat the Baylor Bears and Missouri Tigers, and though they were absolutely brutalized by the Oklahoma Sooners, they came back the next week in Stillwater and nearly beat the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
QB Collin Klein is going to have to have a big time day if he hopes to keep the Cats in front of the 7.5 point spread in the Cotton Bowl. If he does though, we have no reason to think that the 'total' won't easily fly past the 62.5 that you will find right now at 5Dimes.com.
