OXFORD, Miss. — Cotton might be king in Mississippi again.

No. 25 Mississippi, spurred by a chance to play in a New Year's Day bowl, set a school record with 11 sacks, got four touchdown passes from Jevan Snead and routed Mississippi State, 45-0, yesterday in the most lopsided Egg Bowl in 37 years.

"Total domination," Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt said after his first Egg Bowl. "And it starts with our defense."

Cotton balls rained down on fans from the top of the stadium as the Rebels (8-4, 5-3 Southeastern Conference) wrapped up a blowout that could send them to the Cotton Bowl.

With representatives from the SEC's top three non-BCS bowls — the Capital One, Peach and Cotton bowls — in attendance, the Rebels needed to put on a top performance to pull in a top payday. Ole Miss finishes second in the SEC West and with top-ranked Alabama and No. 2 Florida both possibly heading to BCS bowls, the Rebels and Georgia figure to be selected next by affiliated bowls.

"It's so huge," Nutt said. "Our name gets mentioned for the next 30 days or so, recruiting goes to another level and in this league there are no bad bowls."

Snead and the offense started the rout with a flourish. Dexter McCluster scored on a 36-yard run out of the Wild Rebel formation just 2:20 in and the Rebels led 24-0 at the end of the first quarter after Snead completed his first nine passes for 117 yards and two touchdowns. He also hit a wide-open Mike Wallace with a 72-yard scoring pass to make it 31-0 at halftime.

ARIZONA ST. 34, UCLA 9

TEMPE, Ariz. — The Sun Devils (5-6, 4-4 Pac-10) scored a school-record four defensive touchdowns in a rout of the Bruins (4-7, 3-5) to keep alive their bowl hopes.

Troy Nolan, Travis Goethel and Mike Nixon each returned interceptions for scores — Nolan's went for 100 yards, matching a school record — and Paul Unga returned a fumble for a touchdown. The Sun Devils can earn a minor bowl berth with a victory next week over archrival Arizona in Tucson.

PITTSBURGH 19, WEST VIRGINIA 15

PITTSBURGH — LeSean McCoy scored his second touchdown, a 1-yard dive, with 52 seconds left to cap a career-high 183-yard rushing performance, and the Panthers (8-3, 4-2) beat the Mountaineers (7-4, 4-2) to give Cincinnati the Big East championship.

Quarterback Pat White ran for 93 yards, including a 54-yard TD run, and was 15 of 28 for 143 yards, but also was intercepted twice as West Virginia lost the Backyard Brawl for the second straight year.

ARKANSAS 31, LSU 30

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Casey Dick threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to London Crawford on fourth-and-1 with 22 seconds remaining to rally the Razorbacks (5-7, 2-6 Southeastern Conference) over the Tigers (7-5, 3-5).

The Razorbacks trailed 30-14 early in the third quarter when Dick replaced his younger brother Nathan at quarterback. Arkansas closed to 30-21 on Casey Dick's 46-yard TD pass to Jarius Wright with 7:23 left in the quarter. Alex Tekada's 23-yard field goal made it 30-24 with 12:33 left in the game.

E. CAROLINA 53, UTEP 21

GREENVILLE, N.C. — Brandon Simmons ran for three scores and had a touchdown catch to help the Pirates (8-4, 6-2 Conference USA), who already clinched a berth in next week's league championship game, rolled to a 30-7 halftime lead in beating the Miners (5-7, 4-4).

East Carolina must wait to find out who it will face in next weekend's CUSA title game. Houston, Tulsa and Rice are all tied at 6-1 atop the West Division heading into the weekend. The West Division winner will host next Saturday's game.

ELSEWHERE

NEBRASKA 40, COLORADO 31

Alex Henery kicked a school-record 57-yard field goal with 1:43 left and defensive end Ndamukong Suh returned a tipped pass 30 yards for a touchdown seconds later, helping the Cornhuskers (8-4, 5-3 Big 12) turn back the Buffaloes (5-7, 2-6) at Lincoln, Neb.

KENT STATE 24, BUFFALO 21

Julian Edleman's 25-yard touchdown pass to Jonathan Simpson with 5:57 left led the Golden Flashes (4-8, 3-5) over the Mid-American Conference East champion Bulls (7-5, 5-3) at Buffalo, N.Y.

EASTERN MICHIGAN 56, CENTRAL MICHIGAN 52

Andy Schmitt broke the NCAA record for completions in a game with 58, Tyler Jones tied the NCAA Division I record for receptions in a game with 23 as the host Eagles (3-9, 2-7 Mid-American Conference) upset the Chippawas (8-4, 6-2) at Ypsilanti, Mich.