It won’t be difficult for BYU fans to remember the 21st night of September.
The Cougars captured a hysterical upset victory Saturday against No. 13 Kansas State, and while the game action was thrilling, many of the contest’s most memorable highlights actually came off the field.
Here’s a look back at some of the LaVell Edwards Stadium scenes that didn’t show up in the box score.
Throwback beauties
Much has been said about the 1996-inspired uniforms BYU wore against the Wildcats, and for good reason. They looked just as incredible Saturday as they did when they debuted three decades ago.
I’d go as far to say that the drop shadow-heavy kits are the best look the Cougars have ever had. If Kalani Sitake’s crew reaches six wins this season, they should seriously consider wearing these threads again for their bowl game.
The nostalgia wasn’t limited to just uniforms. BYU fully committed to the throwback bit, rolling out a new pregame intro video featuring some heavy 90s-era computer animation along with a retro score bug on the jumbotron.
Another BYU Woj bomb
Adrian Wojnarowski rocked the sports world this past week with his decision to step down as ESPN’s lead NBA insider.
What is Wojnarowski doing with his newfound free time, you ask? Hanging out in Provo, apparently.
The man affectionally known by NBA fans as Woj attended Saturday’s game as a special guest of new BYU head basketball coach Kevin Young, whose hiring had been first reported by Wojnarowski himself.
Wojnarowski even got to formally meet another onetime “Woj Bomb” subject in 5-star Cougars recruit Egor Demin.
Speaking of basketball, a number of Utah Jazz players made the trip down I-15 to catch Saturday’s action, with guard Collin Sexton especially seeming to enjoy what he saw in Cougar town.
Cougarette chaos
Due to a miscommunication of some sort, BYU’s Cougarettes squad somehow ended up on the field as Wildcats kicker Chris Tennant was preparing to kick a second quarter field goal.
Thankfully the Cougarettes were able to flee the scene before things took a Cal-Stanford turn, and BYU escaped without any sort of penalty. Still, the video of the innocent incident is pretty funny.
Interestingly, right after the Cougarettes took the field, the gridiron Cougars went and scored 31 unanswered points. Maybe BYU can dial up another Cougarette blitz in the future when a game needs saving.
The return heard round the world
If the college football world had a main character Saturday night, it would have been Parker Kingston.
After initially muffing a Kansas State punt, BYU’s speedy sophomore receiver took what probably should have been a disaster and turned it into one of the most electric plays in program history in the form of a 90-yard return touchdown.
No Cougar had scored a punt return touchdown in more than a decade, and certainly no one else can say they’ve pulled off a similar play outside of the College Football 25 video game.
Kingston’s heroics garnered plenty of attention — it felt like everyone on social media was talking about it.
All of that running definitely took its toll on Kingston. Rather than celebrate his score, he, uh, emptied his stomach. That’s one way to leave it all on the field.
Classic Cosmo
Given the zany nature of the game itself, Cosmo the Cougar’s weekly death-defying stunt seemed like the most normal thing to happen all night.
That doesn’t mean what Cosmo did wasn’t insane. The oft-viral mascot did a backflip while holding a 70-pound barbell... that was on fire.
We get it, Cosmo, you lift.
Seriously, though, give this performer a raise, or at least let him be one of the Avengers. This is superhuman stuff.
ROC stars
During BYU’s past September upset wins — such as against Utah in 2021 or Baylor in 2022 — students and fans were quick to storm the field at LaVell’s house in celebration.
Now that the Cougars compete in the Big 12, however, such a scene is discouraged, as the conference issues a $50,000 penalty for each field-storming occurrence.
The Cougar players quickly found a solution upon toppling the Wildcats: if the fans couldn’t come to them, they would just go to the fans.
Tanner Wall, Keelan Marion, Tre Alexander and a number of other BYU players did their best Lambeau Leap into the ROC to party in the sea of students to bask in the team’s first ranked win since 2022. Talk about a core memory.