1996 Cotton Bowl
January 1, 1997 Dallas, Texas

An estimated 45,000 Kansas State fans descended on Dallas to watch the
Wildcats in their first-ever New Year’s Day Bowl and were witness to one of the most exciting games of the 1996-97 bowl season.

After taking a 15-5 lead following a 72-yard touchdown pass from Brian Kavanagh to Kevin Lockett, the Wildcats saw why Brigham Young quarterback Steve Sarkisian was considered one of the nation’s best. The Cougar QB tossed two fourth - quarter touchdowns to lead No. 5 BYU to a 19-15 Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl victory.

Following Sarkisian’s 28- yard scoring strike to Kealaluhi with 3:39 remaining in the game, Kavanagh and Lockett led the Wildcats to a first down at the BYU 12-yard line with around one minute remaining. But, to the disappointment of KState fans, Kavanagh’s pass to Jimmy Dean was picked off at the 3-yard line by Omarr Morgan to preserve BYU’s 14th win.

The game’s first score came when Cotton Bowl Defensive MVP Shay Muirbrook tackled Kavanagh in the end zone for a safety in the first quarter. After the free kick, Brigham Young scored again on an Ethan
Pochman 39-yard field goal.

Then K-State had a hard time getting on track until the final seconds of the first half. Taking over following a punt at the KSU 44-yard line with 29 seconds remaining in the half, Kavanagh completed two passes to give the Wildcats the ball at the BYU 41- yard line with six seconds on the clock.

On the final play of the half, Kavanagh heaved a Hail Mary into the end zone, where, after the ball was deflected by a BYU defender, K-State junior Andre Anderson scooped the ball in for a touchdown. Following the PAT that gave K-State a 7-5 lead, a penalty on BYU forced the teams to return from the locker room so that the Wildcats could try for two points. Mike Lawrence made it pay off by scoring around the right end to give KSU an 8-5 lead heading into halftime.

K-State scored its second TD of the game when Kevin Lockett bounced off tacklers following a reception on a short slant pattern and raced 72 yards down the left sideline.

BYU answered in the fourth quarter behind the two TD passes by Sarkisian to give the Cougars a final 14-1 record and dropping the Wildcats to 9-3.

Sarkisian and Lockett shared the game’s offensive MVP honors, while Muirbrook was named defensive MVP.