The 1970 Cotton Bowl Classic was a postseason college football bowl game in the 1969 season, held at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, on Thursday, January 1, 1970. The game matched the top-ranked Texas Longhorns (10–0) and the #9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8–1–1).

Texas was looking to win its second unanimous national championship in seven seasons, previously won in 1963. The Longhorns, who had already won the national championship of the UPI coaches poll prior to the Cotton Bowl, finished with a perfect season and a second straight Southwest Conference championship. The Associated Press would conduct a final poll following the bowl games.

This was independent Notre Dame's first postseason appearance since the 1925 Rose Bowl, 45 years earlier.

By a vote of its players in mid-November, second-ranked Penn State (10–0) opted to return to the Orange Bowl, and faced #6 Missouri (9–1). Penn State had several black players and wished to avoid Dallas due to segregation issues. At the time, the top-ranked team was defending champion Ohio State, who lost the next week at Michigan.

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