The Cotton Bowl Classic is a college football bowl game that pits a team from the Big 12 against a team from the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Between 1937 and 2009 the game was played at its namesake stadium in Dallas, Texas. The game hosted the champion of the Southwest Conference until that conference's dissolution in 1996. The other invited team was often the second-place or third-place finisher in the Southeastern Conference or a major independent.