The 2012 AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic, the 76th edition of the game, was a post-season American college football bowl game, held on January 6, 2012 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas as part of the 2011–12 NCAA Bowl season.

The game, which was telecast at 7:00 p.m. CT on FOX, featured the Kansas State Wildcats from the Big XII Conference versus the Arkansas Razorbacks from the SEC Conference. Arkansas won the game 29–16, which was their first win over Kansas State since 1967.

This was only the second time in the BCS era that a non-BCS bowl had two teams with higher BCS rankings playing than teams in a BCS bowl (the first being the 2008 Poinsettia Bowl). The 2012 Sugar Bowl, and 2012 Orange Bowl had teams with lower BCS rankings squaring off.

As of the 2013 season, this is the most recent bowl game involving an SEC team that was not played within the conference footprint, as Texas A&M did not join the SEC until 2012.

This was the first meeting between Arkansas and Kansas State in the postseason and the fifth time overall.

Arkansas came into this game with a 10–2 record, including a perfect 7–0 record at home. Arkansas' only losses were on the road to #1 LSU and #2 Alabama. Quarterbacking for the Razorbacks was No. 8 Tyler Wilson (Jr., 6–3, 220). The team was ranked 13th (1st in the SEC) in passing offense (307.8 yards per game) and 27th (1st in SEC) in total offense (445.8 yards per game). In 2011, Wilson threw for 3,422 yards (285 yards per game) for 22 touchdowns with a 63.1 percent pass completion.

...
Wikipedia