By Don Williams l Avalanche-Journal

Texas Tech wide receiver Mike Crabtree has a chance to be a unanimous all-America selection for the second year in a row. On Saturday, the Tech sophomore was named to the Football Writers Association of America team – one of five recognized by the NCAA in determining consensus and unanimous all-America status. Crabtree also made the American Football Coaches Association and Walter Camp all-America teams. The Sporting News and The Associated Press teams will be released this week.

The FWAA team had six players from the Southeastern Conference and seven from the Big 12: Crabtree, Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, Oklahoma State running back Kendall Hunter, Missouri tight end Chase Coffman, Baylor offensive tackle Jason Smith, Oklahoma offensive guard Duke Robinson and Texas defensive end Brian Orakpo.

Cotton nears sellout

Texas Tech and Mississippi have sold all the tickets they have for the Cotton Bowl, so all that’s left for the Jan. 2 game in Dallas are a couple of hundred available on the Cotton Bowl Web site.

“When they’re gone, that’s it,” Cotton Bowl president Rick Baker said.

Tech sold 17,100 tickets, according to Dave Welsh, assistant athletic director for ticket operations. Ole Miss sold a little more than 20,000.

Baker said attendance should be a little more than 85,000, and for a variety of reasons.

“The Red Raiders have always supported our game well,” Baker said. “You’ve got an Ole Miss team that hasn’t been to a bowl game (since 2003). They’re excited about (first-year coach) Houston Nutt. You’ve got a lot of folks that pre-bought, wanting to experience the last Cotton Bowl game in Cotton Bowl stadium. A bunch of people bought to make sure they had priority when we moved to the new stadium. It’s sort of the perfect storm.

“Obviously, these circumstances have never converged to create quite the demand that this particular game has. Plus, both teams are pretty good.”

The Cotton Bowl game will move to the Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium next year. A recent Cotton Bowl stadium expansion brought the listed capacity to 88,175, but some of the seats will be blocked off because of bad sight lines.

Ole Miss LB in jeopardy

Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt says he’ll decide by Monday whether starting linebacker Ashlee Palmer will sit out Cotton Bowl because of academic issues.

Palmer, a 6-foot-2, 222-pound senior, has played in all 12 games this season at outside linebacker. He is fourth on the team with 48 tackles, including five for a loss.

If Palmer can’t play, Nutt says junior Patrick Trahan, who has 24 tackles this season and played extensively on defense as well as special teams, will likely start.

Palmer has been one of the team’s steadiest players over the past two years.