No. 25 Arkansas (8-4)
                   vs.
No. 7 Missouri (11-2)

Date: Jan. 1

Time: 11:30 a.m. ET

Location: Dallas

Television: FOX

Payout: $3 million

Last result: Auburn 17, Nebraska 14

2007 results: Arkansas; Missouri

2007 statistics: Arkansas; Missouri

Coaches: Reggie Herring/interim (Arkansas); Gary Pinkel (Missouri)

Bowl history/last appearance: Arkansas 11-21-3 (lost 17-14 to Wisconsin in '07 Capital One); Missouri 10-14 (lost 39-38 to Oregon State in '06 Sun)

Series: Tied 2-2 (Arkansas 7-6 in '44, 27-14 in '03 Independence; Missouri 11-0 in 1906, 7-6 in '63)

What Arkansas must do to win: Razorback defensive coordinator Reggie Herring, who’ll step in for Houston Nutt as interim head coach, has the unenviable task of trying to slow down Missouri, which scored more than 30 points in all 12 of its regular-season games.

He’ll surely examine how Oklahoma managed to lockup the Tigers in the Big 12 championship game, but Herring doesn’t quite have the kind of personnel that the folks in Norman have on their depth chart.

Arkansas will have to simply outscore Missouri, which means running backs Darren McFadden and Felix Jones will need to be their usual Superman selves within the unbalanced Razorback attack.

What Missouri must do to win: Playing for the national championship would have been a lot more exciting, but the Tigers need to get over their disappointment and focus on the task at hand. It shouldn’t be too tough. After all, playing in your school’s first New Year’s Day bowl since 1969, is worthy of everyone’s full attention.

Something else that’s likely to catch Missouri’s attention is the speed of McFadden and Jones.  The Tigers need to really focus on taking the right angles and limiting their big plays. But that’s always a trick proposition, because you never want to over-commit since they’ve got a big bag of tricks.

Missouri’s chances increase if it can force Arkansas to earn every yard and perhaps even create situations in which Razorback quarterback Casey Dick is forced to accept more of the offensive load.

Opening point spread: Missouri by 4 (70)

Prediction: Missouri 35, Arkansas 31

MVP: Missouri QB Chase Daniel

Live vote: Who will win?

BOWL BREAKDOWNS Click on each postseason game for a recap                                             BCS GAMES    1/7: Championship — No. 2 LSU 38, No. 1 Ohio State 24    1/3: Orange — No. 8 Kansas 24, No. 5 Virginia Tech 21    1/2: Fiesta — No. 11 West Virginia 48, No. 3 Oklahoma 28    1/1: Sugar — No. 4 Georgia 41, No. 10 Hawaii 10    1/1: Rose — No. 6 USC 49, No. 13 Illinois 17                                           OTHER BOWLS    1/6: GMAC — Tulsa 63, Bowling Green 7    1/5: International — Rutgers 52, Ball State 30    1/1: Gator — Texas Tech 31, No. 21 Virginia 28    1/1: Capital One — Michigan 41, No. 9 Florida 35    1/1: Cotton: No. 7 Missouri 38, No. 25 Arkansas 7    1/1: Outback — No. 16 Tennessee 21, No. 18 Wisconsin 17 12/31: Insight — Oklahoma State 49, Indiana 33 12/31: Chick-fil-A — No. 22 Auburn 23, No. 15 Clemson 20, OT 12/31: Music City — Kentucky 35, Florida State 28 12/31: Humanitarian — Fresno State 40, Georgia Tech 28 12/31: Sun — Oregon 56, No. 23 South Florida 21 12/31: Armed Forces — California 42, Air Force 36 12/30: Independence — Alabama 30, Colorado 24 12/29: Alamo — Penn State 24, Texas A&M 17 12/29: Liberty — Mississippi State 10, Central Florida 3 12/29: Meineke Car Care: Wake Forest 24, Connecticut 10 12/28: Texas — TCU 20, Houston 13 12/28: Emerald — Oregon State 21, Maryland 14 12/28: Champs Sports: No. 14 Boston College 24, Michigan St. 21 12/27: Holiday — No. 17 Texas 51, No. 12 Arizona State 34 12/26: Motor City — Purdue 51, Central Michigan 48 12/23: Hawaii — East Carolina 41, No. 24 Boise State 38 12/22: Las Vegas — No. 19 BYU 17, UCLA 16 12/22: New Mexico: New Mexico 23, Nevada 0 12/22: PapaJohns.com: No. 20 Cincinnati 31, Southern Miss 21 12/21: New Orleans: Florida Atlantic 44, Memphis 27 12/20: Poinsettia: Utah 35, Navy 32

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