1995 Holiday Bowl |
For the second time in three years, Kansas State ran roughshod over the Western Athletic Conference’s best as the Wildcats outran, outplayed and outscored Colorado State for a 54-21 win in front of more than 51,000 fans at the 1995 Plymouth Holiday Bowl at Jack Murphy Stadium. K-State began the scoring on an Eric Hickson 4-yard run with 11:21 left in the first quarter. After CSU responded with a touchdown to knot the score at 7-7, it was all Kansas State. The Wildcats outscored the Rams, 19-0, in the second quarter by virtue of an interception return by safety Mario Smith and a blocked punt. Brian Kavanagh, who would earn the game’s Offensive MVP award, came in for the injured Matt Miller in the second quarter and immediately put the ball in the end zone. Kavanagh completed 18 of 24 passes for 242 yards and a Holiday Bowl-record tying four touchdowns. The junior signal- caller tossed scoring strikes to Brian Lojka, Tyson Schwieger, Kevin Lockett and Mitch Running. Including Miller’s statistics before he was hurt, the Wildcat quarterbacks combined to complete 24 of 32 passes for 324 yards and four touchdowns. On the defensive side of the ball, Smith earned MVP honors by picking off two passes, registering two passes broken up, making four tackles and generally creating havoc among the Ram receivers. The nation’s top-ranked defense held the potent CSU offense to 301 yards, while forcing four turnovers. Individually, Hickson ran for 103 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, while catching six passes. Running caught six passes for 126 yards and a TD. Freshman punter James Garcia averaged 45.0 yards on three punts. |