| Game Name: | Cotton Bowl Classic |
| Subheader: | 87th Cotton Bowl Classic |
| Title Sponsor: | Goodyear |
| Date Game Played: | January 2 |
| Year Game Played: | 2023 |
| Football Season: | 2022 |
| Stadium: | AT&T Stadium |
| City: | Arlington, Texas |
| Visitor School: | Tulane University |
| Visitor Name Short: | Tulane |
| Visitor Nickname: | Green Wave |
| Visitor Record: | 11–2 |
| Visitor Conference: | AAC |
| Visitor Rank Ap: | 14 |
| Visitor Rank Coaches: | 17 |
| Visitor Rank Cfp: | 16 |
| Visitor Coach: | Willie Fritz |
| Visitor 1Q: | 0 |
| Visitor 2Q: | 14 |
| Visitor 3Q: | 16 |
| Visitor 4Q: | 16 |
| Home School: | University of Southern California |
| Home Name Short: | USC |
| Home Nickname: | Trojans |
| Home Record: | 11–2 |
| Home Conference: | Pac-12 |
| Home Rank Ap: | 8 |
| Home Rank Coaches: | 8 |
| Home Rank Cfp: | 10 |
| Home Coach: | Lincoln Riley |
| Home 1Q: | 7 |
| Home 2Q: | 21 |
| Home 3Q: | 7 |
| Home 4Q: | 10 |
| Odds: | USC by 2.5 |
| Referee: | Steve Marlowe (SEC)[1] |
| Attendance: | 55,329 |
| Us Network: | ESPN |
| Us Announcers: | Mark Jones (play-by-play), Robert Griffin III (analyst), and Quint Kessenich (sideline) |
| Intl Network: | ESPN Deportes |
| Intl Announcers: | Javier Trejo Garay and Ramiro Pruneda[2] |
| Different Previous: | 2021 |
| Different Next: | 2023 (Dec.) |
The 2023 Cotton Bowl Classic was a college football bowl game played on January 2, 2023, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The 87th annual Cotton Bowl Classic, the game featured two teams selected at-large by the College Football Playoff selection committee — Tulane from the American Athletic Conference and USC from the Pac-12 Conference. The game began at 12:00 p.m. CST and was aired on ESPN.[3] It was one of the 2022–23 bowl games concluding the 2022 FBS football season. Sponsored by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, the game was officially known as the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.
The game featured at-large teams selected by the College Football Playoff (CFP) selection committee. Tulane qualified as the highest-ranked team from the Group of Five conferences.
This was the fourth meeting between the two teams and their first since 1946; USC led the all-time series, 2–1.[4] One of their meetings came in the 1932 Rose Bowl, where USC defeated Tulane to win the national championship. This was USC's third Cotton Bowl, they were 1–1 in previous appearances. This was Tulane's first Cotton Bowl.
See main article: 2022 Tulane Green Wave football team.
Tulane played to a 10–2 regular-season record (7–1 in conference). They faced two ranked teams, defeating Cincinnati and losing to UCF. Their only other loss was to Southern Miss. The Green Wave qualified for the AAC Championship Game, where they defeated a ranked UCF in a rematch. Tulane entered the Cotton Bowl with an 11–2 overall record.
See main article: 2022 USC Trojans football team.
USC compiled an 11–1 record during the regular season (8–1 in conference). Their only loss was to Utah in mid-October. In addition to Utah, USC faced ranked teams UCLA and Notre Dame, defeating the latter two. The Trojans qualified for the Pac-12 Championship Game, where they lost to Utah in a rematch. USC entered the Cotton Bowl with an overall 11–2 record.
USC had a lead of 14–0 that quickly evaporated, but led 28–14 at halftime. The game tightened again in the second half but USC kicked a field goal with just 4:30 left in the game to extend their lead to 45–30. Tulane responded by taking just 23 seconds to cut the lead to 45–37, and then registered a safety with 3:20 left to cut the lead to 45–39. Tulane then converted a pair of fourth downs on a 12-play, 66-yard drive, scoring the winning touchdown with just 9 seconds left in the game.[5] With 4:30 remaining in the game and a 15-point lead, USC's win probability stood at 99.8%.[6]
With the win, Tulane finished their season with an overall 12–2 record, a 10-win improvement over their prior season—the biggest single-season improvement in NCAA football history.[7]
| Statistic | Tulane | USC | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First downs | 16 | 29 | |
| First downs rushing | 9 | 6 | |
| First downs passing | 6 | 22 | |
| First downs penalty | 1 | 1 | |
| Third down efficiency | 3–8 | 11–15 | |
| Fourth down efficiency | 2–2 | 2–2 | |
| Total plays–net yards | 52–539 | 84–594 | |
| Rushing attempts–net yards | 34–305 | 32–132 | |
| Yards per rush | 9.0 | 4.1 | |
| Yards passing | 234 | 462 | |
| Pass completions–attempts | 8–18 | 37–52 | |
| Interceptions thrown | 0 | 1 | |
| Punt returns–total yards | 0–0 | 1–1 | |
| Kickoff returns–total yards | 6–146 | 5–67 | |
| Punts–average yardage | 2–43.0 | 0–0 | |
| Fumbles–lost | 1–1 | 2–0 | |
| Penalties–yards | 4–30 | 5–37 | |
| Time of possession | 20:11 | 39:49 |
| Green Wave passing | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8–17 | 234 | 2–0 | |||
| Team | 0–1 | 0 | 0–0 | ||
| Green Wave rushing | |||||
| Tyjae Spears | 17 | 205 | 4 | ||
| Michael Pratt | 15 | 83 | 0 | ||
| Shaadie Clayton-Johnson | 1 | 19 | 0 | ||
| Team | 1 | -2 | 0 | ||
| Green Wave receiving | |||||
| 1 | 87 | 1 | |||
| 2 | 83 | 0 | |||
| Alex Bauman | 3 | 46 | 1 | ||
| Tyjae Spears | 1 | 14 | 0 | ||
| Reggie Brown | 1 | 4 | 0 | ||
| Trojans passing | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37–52 | 462 | 5–1 | |||
| Trojans rushing | |||||
| Raleek Brown | 6 | 61 | 1 | ||
| Austin Jones | 22 | 61 | 0 | ||
| Caleb Williams | 4 | 10 | 0 | ||
| Trojans receiving | |||||
| Brenden Rice | 6 | 174 | 2 | ||
| Tahj Washington | 5 | 109 | 0 | ||
| Mario Williams | 6 | 35 | 0 | ||
| Michael Jackson III | 4 | 31 | 1 | ||
| Terrell Bynum | 3 | 26 | 1 | ||
| Raleek Brown | 2 | 24 | 0 | ||
| Kyron Hudson | 4 | 23 | 1 | ||
| Austin Jones | 4 | 20 | 0 | ||
| Kyle Ford | 2 | 19 | 0 | ||
| John Jackson III | 1 | 3 | 0 | ||
| Caleb Williams | 0 | -2 | 0 | ||