The 1986 Cotton Bowl Classic was an American college football bowl game played on January 1, 1986 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas….and was the 50th Cotton Bowl Classic held….as the game featured the Texas A&M Aggies and the Auburn Tigers.
A & M coach Jackie Sherill was in his fourth year with A&M….after finishing his previous three years finishing with a combined 16–16–1….while Auburn was entering the contest after being highlighted by RB Bo Jackson…..who had rushed for 1,786 yards and won the Heisman Trophy for a team that had at one point in the season having been ranked #1 in the country….before losing to Tennessee….and ultimately finishing the season with an 8 – 4 record….which was only good for 6th in the Southeastern Conference, finishing behind the three teams that had beaten them (Tennessee, Florida and Alabama).
Bo Jackson started the scoring for Auburn with a touchdown run early in the game after a fumble recovery….only to have A & M respond with their own touchdown run by Harry Johnson….then they scored again just three minutes later….but the score stood at 12 – 6 ….due to the Aggies missing an extra point and having a failed 2 point conversion attempt. Jackson struck back for Auburn by catching a 73-yard touchdown pass from QB Pat Washington to give Auburn the lead again….and then the Tigers missed their conversion attempt….which was followed by a Scott Slater 26-yard field goal to give A & M the lead again at halftime by the score of 15 – 13. Bo Jackson would go on to win the Cotton Bowl MVP after rushing for 129 yards on 31 carries along with 2 catches for 73 yards and two touchdowns. Texas A&M: Domingo Bryant, who intercepted two passes would go on to win defesive MVP.
As happens rather infrenquently while posting this 2300 hours vintage library here at Ima Sportsphile….we have a short clip of the original entire program…. and we find the remainder of the program on another a subsequent cassette tape from when it was recorded back in the day…..and we said all of that to say this….bookmark our site and return often….cuz like with this partial video of the 50th Cotton Bowl Classic….the balance will be posted some day in the future…. as our job is to post the content…cuz we weren’t even a gleam in our daddy’s eye back when this library was recorded….so, stay tuned for the balance of this classic college game featuring the one and only, Bo Jackson….cuz Bo Knows Football.
