2002 Cotton Bowl Classic
NCAA football bowl game
The 2002 Cotton Bowl Classic matched the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Oklahoma Sooners.
Background
This was the Sooners first Cotton Bowl Classic appearance ever. The Sooners finished 2nd in the Big 12 South after two crucial losses to Nebraska and Oklahoma State. This was the first appearance for the Razorbacks since 2000. Despite finishing 5th in the SEC West, they were invited to this game.
Game summary
Arkansas QBs were sacked nine times by Oklahoma, a school record and tying a Cotton Bowl Classic record. Arkansas could manage only 50 yards of total offense, and one Brennan O'Donohoe field goal late in the game. Oklahoma QB Nate Hybl ran in from one yard out for the only touchdown of the game. Sooner Rocky Calmus, the Butkus Award winner and Nagurski, Bednarik, and Lombardi finalist had nine tackles and a fumble recovery in the effort. Razorback coach Houston Nutt said, "[The Oklahoma defense is] the best I've seen in 15 years.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “2002 Cotton Bowl Classic” is nCAA football bowl game. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Cotton, Bowl and Classic, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “nCAA football bowl game” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 12, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q4599879. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2002 and 2000.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “2002 Cotton Bowl Classic”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 2002 Cotton Bowl Classic primary sources, 2002 Cotton Bowl Classic archive and Cotton research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “2002 Cotton Bowl Classic”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “2002 Cotton Bowl Classic” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.