Texas Tech and Ole Miss in Cotton Bowl

Texas Tech and Mississippi accepted bids Sunday to play in the Cotton Bowl, creating a matchup of teams responsible for the only losses by a pair of BCS teams.

The No. 8 Red Raiders (11-1) ended the regular season in a tie for the Big 12 South title with Oklahoma and Texas. The Sooners advanced to the Big 12 championship game on a tiebreaker and won the league championship, but Texas Tech handed the Longhorns their only loss this season.

No. 20 Ole Miss (8-4) has won five straight games. Early in the season, the Rebels won at Southeastern Conference champion Florida 31-30.

The 73rd Cotton Bowl will be played Jan. 2. It will be final time the game will be in the Cotton Bowl before moving to the Dallas Cowboys' new $1 billion-plus stadium next year.

It is the first bowl game for Ole Miss since the 2004 Cotton Bowl, when Eli Manning led the Rebels to a 31-28 victory over Oklahoma State. That was their first Cotton Bowl in 42 years.

Texas Tech lost 13-10 to Alabama in the 2006 Cotton Bowl. It is the Red Raiders' fourth Cotton Bowl.

This is the second consecutive year Houston Nutt has led a team to the Cotton Bowl, though he didn't come last year. Nutt was Arkansas' coach last year, but resigned to become the Mississippi coach last December.

Ole Miss and Texas Tech have twice met in bowl games, the Rebels winning the 1986 and 1998 Independence Bowls.