Down by 10 points with 11 minutes to go in Wednesday's Cotton Bowl Classic, BYU seemed bound to add another loss to its dismal bowl history. But first they got mad, then they got even.
Angered by the taunting of their opponents from Kansas State, the Cougars scored two late touchdowns to give No. 5-ranked BYU a 19-15 victory over the Wildcats.Add another chapter to the Cougars' legendary bowl finishes. Jim McMahon rallied them to three touchdowns to win the Miracle Bowl of 1980, delivering a 41-yard Hail Mary pass on the last play of the game. Steve Young caught a touchdown pass to win the '83 Holiday Bowl. A gimpy-legged Robbie Bosco threw a last-minute TD pass to win the '84 national championship.
And on Wednesday, Steve Sarkisian threw a 28-yard TD pass to K.O. Kealaluhi with 3:39 left. Then Omarr Morgan intercepted a Wildcat pass near his own goal to preserve the Cougars' win.
"This one is sweet," said Morgan while celebrating on the field. "This all seems like a dream to me now."
Kealaluhi, you might remember, is the guy who gathered in a 46-yard game-winning touchdown pass with a minute to play in the season-opener against nationally ranked Texas A&M. That was on Aug. 24. It was the earliest game ever played in NCAA football. Few would have guessed then that the Cougars would end their season on New Year's Day, having played the longest schedule in NCAA history - 15 games, one short of an NFLschedule.
The Cougars wound up with an NCAA-record 14 victories. They will have to wait until the final polls are released on Friday to see if they move up in the rankings. Only once have they finished in the top five in the national polls - in 1984 when they won the national championship.
"I don't think the players themselves know, or few other people either, how truly difficult it is to get up for 15 games," said Edwards. "We didn't have one bad game."
With the possible exception of the one at Washington. A September loss to the nationally ranked Huskies - who are always nearly unbeatable in Seattle - spoiled the chance of a perfect season. After that, however, the Cougars reeled off 12 consecutive victories, including a heart-stopping overtime win over Wyoming in the inaugural WAC championship game in Las Vegas in their previous outing.
"This was our most exciting game since Wyoming," deadpanned Edwards.
The Cougars have made a habit of playing close games in bowls, although not necessarily of winning them. In 20 bowl appearances, they have won seven - six of by a touchdown or less, most of them in the final minutes. In the remaining 13 games, they have lost six of them by a touchdown or less and tied one.
Certainly Wednesday's Cotton Bowl will be remembered in Cougar football lore right alongside - if not a notch above - the other fantastic BYU bowl finishes.