Cotton Bowl Classic historian Charlie Fiss compiled interesting facts leading into the 85th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic slated for December 30, 2020, at AT&T Stadium:
 
• Dallas entrepreneur J. Curtis Sanford founded the Cotton Bowl Classic in 1937. As he sat among the fans watching SMU battle Stanford in the 1936 Rose Bowl, the thought occurred to him that North Texas deserved a bowl game of its own. It became Sanford's dream to stage a college football event as big as Texas. An oilman by trade, Sanford dipped into his own financial reserves to fund the game and in less than a year's time his dream came true.
 
• Since 1937 when J. Curtis Sanford founded the game, 50 institutions have represented 16 different conferences in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. The most recent addition to the group was Memphis from the American Athletic Conference in 2020.
 
• The inaugural class of the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 honored 54 men. Four of these charter members had ties to the Goodyear Cotton Bowl. TCU quarterback Sammy Baugh was the Classic's first player honored in the Hall. The others were coaches: D.X. Bible, Texas; Bill Alexander, Georgia Tech and Frank Thomas, Alabama. Coincidentally, Bible and Alexander battled one another eight years prior to their induction in the 1943 Classic.
 
• With its move to Arlington prior to the 2010 Classic, the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic has become closely aligned with the Dallas Cowboys. Jerry Jones, Owner, President and General Manager of the Cowboys, is a Classic alum. An offensive guard at Arkansas, he helped the Razorbacks win the national championship in the 1965 Classic. Jones is the only NFL owner that has won a college national title as a player and a Super Bowl championship as an owner.
 
• The Outland Trophy has been a frequent visitor to the Classic through the years. Established in 1946 by the Football Writers Association of America, the award is presented annually to college football's outstanding interior lineman. In 1955, Arkansas' Bud Brooks became the first of 15 Outland winners to showcase their skills at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl during their playing careers. The most recent recipient of the honor to play in the Classic was Texas A&M's Luke Joeckel in 2013.

• A popular souvenir item that can be purchased in most any stadium gift shop in the world today made its auspicious debut at the 1978 Cotton Bowl. Steve Chmelar invented the No. 1 foam finger in 1971 in support of his high school basketball team in Iowa. However, it wasn't until another man named Geral Fauss put the final touches on the design and concession stands began selling them at the Cotton Bowl. Notre Dame knocked off Texas that day, 38-10, and with the upset of the nation's top-ranked team the Irish vaulted from No. 5 to No. 1 to claim the national championship. No doubt, Notre Dame fans couldn't wait to get home to show off this newfangled souvenir.

• "Hello, I'm Lindsey Nelson" became the trademark greeting of the celebrated television sportscaster who spent 26 years as the Voice of the Cotton Bowl Classic. Each New Year's Day, Lindsey welcomed viewers to North Texas while dressed in his unusual selection of loud sports coats. A pioneer of sports television, Lindsey Nelson is remembered most for his flamboyant personality and colorful commentary on the game and its pageantry.

•  The Cotton Bowl Classic brought down the curtain on its final game at Dallas' Fair Park in spectacular fashion on January 2, 2009. That day a record crowd of 88,175 looked on as Ole Miss turned back Texas Tech, 47-34. At that time, it was the highest scoring game in Classic history. The attendance figure broke the old mark of 77,500 set by Arkansas and Georgia in 1976. A year later in 2010, Ole Miss returned to christen the Classic's new home at AT&T Stadium with a 21-7 victory over Oklahoma State. The crowd for the inaugural game in Arlington was 77,928.

• Just six coaches have guided more than one university to the Goodyear Cotton Bowl. Jess Neely was the first with Clemson and Rice, and then came Paul "Bear" Bryant with Kentucky and Alabama. Jackie Sherrill led Texas A&M and Mississippi State to Big D. Houston Nutt coached both Arkansas and Ole Miss in the Classic. Les Miles led Oklahoma State and LSU to North Texas. The newest member of this exclusive coaching fraternity is Nick Saban who has guided both LSU and Alabama to the Classic.