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The 77th Cotton Bowl (aka the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic) stacks up as one of the most attractive matchups in the game's recent history, with Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M (10-2) going up against Oklahoma (also 10-2) Jan. 4 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The game, plus five other bowls played in the state, are sure to keep Texans and college football lovers everywhere dusting off their memories of Lone Star football. Here are 30 questions to put your knowledge of the subject to a serious test.

The NFL’s regular season ended Sunday with one coach, Indianapolis’s Chuck Pagano, making a triumphant and inspiring return to the sidelines after months of cancer treatments. Meanwhile a handful of coaches were about to receive pink slips (Philadelphia’s Andy Reid, Kansas City’s Romeo Crennel, Cleveland’s Pat Shurmur, and Buffalo’s Chan Gailey were gone by Monday morning, and others seemed sure to follow). Amid the musical chairs to make the playoffs, Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson came up just nine yards shy of his quest to overtake Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards. His 199 yards, however, helped the Vikings land a playoff berth. The Redskins also were carried to the playoffs by a running back, rookie Alfred Morris, a little-known sixth-round draft pick out of Florida Atlantic, who gained a team record 200 yards in Washington’s win-or-go-home 28-18 victory over Dallas. To test your knowledge of Week 17 NFL developments, take this 12-question quiz.

It may be premature to use the headline “Seattle Reign,” since the Seahawks pounded the San Francisco 49ers, 42-13, in a nationally televised Sunday night game. But there’s certainly good reason to think this could be the year that the Seahawks just might win the Super Bowl for the first time in the franchise’s 36-year history. After all, they’ve now outscored their last three opponents 150 to 30, have one of the stingiest defenses in the league, and boast a tremendously mature rookie quarterback in Russell Wilson who has improved exponentially as the season has progressed. To test your knowledge of Week 16 NFL developments, take this 18-question quiz.

If songwriter Billy Joel were to rework one of his most famous songs, how might he describe the “New York state of mind” of the city’s NFL fans? Maybe “anxious” or “angry” or both after a week in which the defending Super Bowl champion Giants were humbled, 34-0, by the Atlanta Falcons and the Jets saw their last, faint playoff hopes snuffed out by the Tennessee Titans, 14-10. In the latter game, Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez committed five turnovers, including one on each of the team’s last three possessions. To test your knowledge of Week 15 developments, take this 16-question quiz.

The Houston Texans and Atlanta Falcons may have spent much of this NFL season thinking it was “their year,” but the 11-2 records they’ve posted suddenly don’t seem so impressive. Not after the Carolina Panthers knocked off Atlanta Sunday, 30-20, and the New England Patriots crushed Houston Monday night, 42-14. Since 2010, the Patriots (10-3) are now 21-0 in games played in the second half of the season and looking increasingly Super Bowl ready. To test your knowledge of Week 14 developments, take this 14-question quiz.

The game that reminds everybody of what still can be good and honorable about college football is set for its 113 kickoff Saturday, when 7-4 Navy meets 2-9 Army on national TV (3 p.m. ET on CBS). Navy leads the series, which began in 1890, 56-49-7. To test your knowledge of this traditional rivalry, take this 16-question quiz.

History, many suspect, will be made when the winner of the 78 annual Heisman Memorial Trophy is announced Saturday at the Best Buy Theater in New York’s Times Square. Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel appears to be the favorite to become the first freshman (a redshirt freshman) in his case to ever win college football’s biggest individual prize. The legend of “Johnny Football” reached its zenith when he led the Aggies to a stunning upset of Alabama Nov 10. The closest any freshman previously came to capturing the Heisman came in 2004, when Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson finished second. To gauge your Heisman IQ, try taking this 20-question quiz.

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, the rookie sensation of the 2011 National Football League season, has spent most of this year bemoaning his team’s frustrating losses. That is until Monday night, when gridiron Cam-a-lot was revived in Philadelphia with a 30-22 win over the fast-falling Eagles, losers of their last seven games. Newton was his old self, scoring four touchdowns, two on passes and two on rushes, and generally looking unstoppable. To test your knowledge of Week 12 NFL developments, take this 15-question quiz.

OK, serious pro football fans, here’s an opportunity to show your stuff. It’s first down and 30 questions to proving just how much you know about NFL history with this wide-ranging test.