2011 Arkansas Razorbacks football team

The 2011 Arkansas Razorbacks football team represents the University of Arkansas in the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Razorbacks will be led by fourth year head coach Bobby Petrino and will play five home games at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium and two at War Memorial Stadium. They are a member of the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference. They finished the season with 11–2 overall record, 6–2 in SEC West Division play, finishing in 3rd place with losses to LSU and Alabama. They were invited to the 2012 Cotton Bowl Classic and defeated Kansas State 29-16. The win capped off only the third 11-win season in Arkansas' 119-year football history. They also finished fifth in the final AP Poll--their highest national ranking since finishing third in 1977.

Texas A&M
Only six days prior to the game, on September 25 Texas A&M announced that it would once again become conference mates with Arkansas, by joining the Southeastern Conference as a full member beginning in 2012. Near the end of the game, Arkansas fans appeared on the Cowboys Stadium jumbotron with a large sign saying "Welcome to the SEC".

Mississippi State
A day after the game, tight end Garrett Uekman was found dead in his dorm room of heart problems.

Kansas State
Arkansas and Kansas State met for the first time in postseason and for the fifth time overall. The Razorbacks netted their first Cotton Bowl Classic win since 2000.