Sunday morning, the Big 12 Conference Co-Champion no. 5 Baylor Bears (11-1, 8-1) found out their fate concerning the inaugural College Football Playoffs. The Bears, along with their fellow Big 12 Conference rival TCU Horned Frogs, were both passed over and not selected as one of the four teams to play in the College Football Playoff.

Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic
Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic
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However, the Bears will return to Goodyear Cotton Bowl for the first time since the 1980s and play against no. 8 Michigan State (10-2, 7-1).

"I'm really, really excited about going to the Cotton Bowl," head coach Art Briles said. "I think it's a great venue, without any question. It's a great opportunity for us to play a great Michigan State team on a national stage at a pretty convenient location for us."

The Bears finished the regular season ranked fifth in the College Football Playoff rankings. They will be playing in a program-record fifth consecutive bowl game.

The 2015 Goodyear Cotton Bowl will played on January 1, 2015 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. The game will kickoff at 11:30 a.m. and will be televised live nationally on ESPN. News/Talk 790. KFYO will broadcast the Baylor Bears IMG Network coverage of the Goodyear Cotton Bowl with pregame beginning at 11 a.m.

BAYLOR FOOTBALL BOWL GAME NOTES

(courtesy BaylorBears.com)

• Baylor secured its first-ever back-to-back conference championships and the eighth conference title in school history (Southwest Conference: 1915, 1922, 1924, 1974, 1980, 1994; Big 12 Conference: 2013, 2014).

• Baylor became the second team to win back-to-back Big 12 Conference titles, joining Oklahoma (2006-08).

• Baylor earned its third Cotton Bowl berth and first since 1980. The Bears lost the 1975 Cotton Bowl to Penn State, 41-20 and dropped the 1981 contest to Alabama, 30-2.

• This is the highest ranking for any Baylor team that's come to the Cotton Bowl Classic.

• Baylor and Michigan State will meet for the second time. Michigan State defeated Baylor 28-10 in East Lansing on Sept. 28, 1968, in the only previous meeting.

GOODYEAR COTTON BOWL CLASSIC NOTES

• This year's game will be the 79th Cotton Bowl Classic. It will be played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and will kick off at 11:30 a.m. CT on Jan. 1.

• The bowl has hosted a team from the Big 12 Conference in all 18 years since the league's formation in 1996, and it had pitted a Big 12 team against an SEC team in 16 straight games prior to this year.

• Teams representing the Big 12 Conference are 5-13 in the Cotton Bowl and have lost six straight.

• Baylor will represent the Big 12 Conference in the Cotton Bowl for the first time, joining Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas Tech as the only current Big 12 teams to represent the league. Iowa State, Kansas, TCU and West Virginia have never played in the Cotton Bowl as Big 12 members.

• The Cotton Bowl was originally played at the Cotton Bowl stadium in Dallas, but it moved to Arlington's AT&T Stadium in 2010 and has been played there ever since.

• First Top 10 matchup since Texas A&M vs Notre Dame in 1994.

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