Mission complete
Interception seals BYU's 19-15 win in Cotton Bowl
1/2/1997
Kansas State's defense had the reputation, but BYU's defense made the big plays Wednesday. And the Cougar offense, bottled up for three quarters, struck for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter and a 19-15 victory over the Wildcats in the Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl.
"Our defense won the football game," said BYU quarterback Steve Sarkisian. "We were struggling and struggling, and they gave us a chance at the end and somehow we pulled it out."
BYU cornerback Omarr Morgan had the defensive play Cougar fans will remember longest when he made a game-saving interception at the BYU three-yard line with 55 seconds remaining in the game. But moments earlier, BYU's other cornerback, Tim McTyer prevented Kansas State's Kevin Lockett from coming down in bounds with a game-winning touchdown catch.
The victory before a crowd of 71,928 gave fifth-ranked BYU a NCAA Division I-A record 14 wins against just one defeat this season. No. 14 Kansas State fell to 9-3.
Through three quarters, BYU's offense, which entered the game averaging 40 points and 478 yards a game, had only 202 yards. With Sarkisian spending most of the time looking up at the sky after seven sacks, the Cougars were in danger of failing to score a touchdown for the first time in 130 games since 1986.
But the defense had kept the Cougars in range, limiting Kansas State to 199 yards of offense through three quarters, with 113 of them coming on two plays, a Hail Mary, tipped touchdown pass to Andre Anderson at the end of the first half and a 72-yard catch and run by Lockett early in the third quarter for another touchdown.
"I had all the confidence in the world in our offense," said BYU linebacker Shay Muirbrook, the game's defensive MVP with 11 tackles and two sacks. "They're always going to put points on the board. It may be late in the game, but eventually they will put points on the board."
BYU was trailing, 15-5, in the fourth quarter when Kansas State's All-America cornerback, Chris Canty, was helped off the field because of cramps caused by dehydration. When Joe Gordon moved to the short side of the field to take Canty's place, reserve cornerback Demetric Denmark entered on the wide side.
BYU immediately attacked the less experienced player when James Dye fought off Denmark in the end zone for a 32-yard touchdown catch that cut K-State's lead to 15-12.
Canty was still off the field two possessions later when BYU began what would prove to be the winning 60-yard drive. When Gordon also came off the field on a third-and-seven at the K-State 28, freshman cornerback Lamar Chapman was thrown into the game for the first time.
Again, BYU picked up on the substitution and Sarkisian hit K.O. Kealaluhi, who had a step on Chapman, in the left corner of the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown. With the extra point kick, BYU had a 19-15 lead with three minutes, 39 seconds left.
Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said it was hard to say how critical Canty's absence on BYU's two touchdowns was.
"I can't project what might have happened if Chris was on the field at that particular time," said Snyder. "No single play was the difference between winning and losing that game, and no one player in our program deserves to be strapped with this loss."
More important, said Snyder, was the fact his defense was on the field for 171/2 minutes of the second half, five minutes longer than BYU's defense.
"I thought our defense was on the field way too much in the second half," said Snyder. "We wore down for that reason."
After BYU took the lead, Kansas State still had one last chance to win and drove from its own 28 to the BYU 17 with 1:34 remaining in the game.
But that's when BYU's lesser known cornerbacks stepped up.
K-State quarterback Brian Kavanagh threw to Lockett in back of the end zone, but McTyer hit Lockett in the air and drove him out of bounds before he could get his feet down.
"When I caught the ball, I believe I would have landed in bounds, but he did push me," said Lockett. "That's part of his job."
Two plays later, Kavanagh tried to force a pass to Jimmy Dean on a slant pattern. But BYU's Morgan had inside position and came up with the game-saving interception.
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