2004 Cotton Bowl Classic

The 2004 Cotton Bowl Classic was a post-season college football bowl game between the Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Ole Miss Rebels on January 2, 2004, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. It was the final game of the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season for each team and resulted in a 31–28 Ole Miss victory. Ole Miss represented the Southeastern Conference (SEC) while Oklahoma State represented the Big 12 Conference. It was Ole Miss's first January bowl victory since the 1970 Sugar Bowl and first Cotton Bowl Classic appearance since 1962.

2004 SBC Cotton Bowl Classic
68th Cotton Bowl Classic
Oklahoma State Cowboys Ole Miss Rebels (9–3) (9–3) Big 12 SEC 28 31 Head coach:  Les Miles Head coach:  David Cutcliffe AP Coaches BCS 21 22 21 AP Coaches BCS 16 18 19
1 2 3 4 Total Oklahoma State 7 7 0 14 28 Ole Miss 7 10 7 7 31
Date	January 2, 2004
Season	2003
Stadium	Cotton Bowl
Location	Dallas, Texas
MVP	QB Eli Manning (Ole Miss) DE Josh Cooper (Ole Miss)
Referee	Bill LeMonnier (Big Ten)
Attendance	73,928
United States TV coverage
Network	Fox
Announcers	Thom Brennaman, Tim Green and Bill Maas

Game summary

Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning completed 21 of 33 pass attempts, threw for two touchdowns, and he ran for one additional touchdown to lead the Rebels to a Cotton Bowl Classic win in a game that was not decided until the final minutes as the Rebels built a 31–14 lead, then held on after the Cowboys made it 31–28 with 4:38 to go. Vernand Morency had two touchdowns for OSU.