Cool whip
Beasley's day puts Vols in cold storage
1/2/2001
Tennessee's future will have to wait. The old men of the Kansas State Wildcats had some unfinished business in Monday's Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl Classic.
No. 11 Kansas State (11-3) played like a veteran team, while Tennessee's youth was all-too apparent in a 35-21 Wildcats victory before 63,465 frost-bitten fans. An overnight snowstorm blanketed much of the field in white but did nothing to dampen Kansas State's enthusiasm for finishing with 11 wins for the fourth consecutive season.
After halftime, most of the snow had evaporated along with Tennessee's chances of winning. The No. 21 Volunteers (8-4), winners of their last six games, saw a 21-14 halftime deficit expand to 35-14 after the first five minutes of the third quarter.
Josh Scobey was credited with the third-quarter touchdowns on runs of 12 and six yards, but it was the operation of the offense by senior quarterback Jonathan Beasley that made the difference.
Beasley threw two touchdown passes to Garland's Quincy Morgan and ran for another score in earning the game's Outstanding Offensive Player award. It was his second such honor; he was named MVP of the Holiday Bowl last season.
"This is a big win for this program in a lot of ways," said Beasley. "A lot of people said K-State couldn't play in big games against teams from big conferences. Today we proved that."
Beasley's 308 total yards - 210 passing and 98 rushing - were the second-most in Cotton Bowl history, behind the 363 recorded by Texas' Eddie Phillips in the 1971 game. Beasley was 13 of 27 passing with one interception and rushed 17 times for an average of 5.8 yards per carry.
After losing twice to No.1 ranked Oklahoma, including in the Big 12 title game, Kansas State's streak of four consecutive 11-win seasons now can only be matched by Florida State.
"There's 25 seniors that came with us on this trip that have made a big impact on Kansas State football," said Wildcats coach Bill Snyder. "It was important for them to finish on an extremely positive note."
Meanwhile, Tennessee's freshman quarterback, Casey Clausen, suffered some growing pains against Kansas State's seek-and-destroy defense. Clausen was intercepted three times and was just 7-of-23 passing for 120 yards.
"Coming in, we knew they were going to try to take away running back Travis Henry and make me make plays, and I didn't make any plays," said Clausen. "They came out and they just flat-out beat us today."
A Tennessee defense that had been allowing just 74.3 rushing yards a game gave up 297 to Kansas State. Scobey blistered the Vols for 147 yards on 28 carries.
In all, Kansas State totaled 507 yards, the sixth-most in Cotton Bowl history.
Tennessee's Travis Henry managed 180 yards on 17 carries, but 81 of them came on a touchdown run with 2:44 left, long after Kansas State had erased any doubt about the outcome.
"Kansas State did a great job of executing their game plan and taking us out by the woodshed and spanking us," said Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer. "There wasn't much happening for the Volunteers today, especially offensively."
Kansas State made its defensive reputation with all-out attacking, but in this game, the Wildcats relied on their front seven to apply pressure, which allowed their secondary to roam free in search of interceptions.
The pressure came in large doses, much of it from defensive end Chris Johnson, who was named the game's Outstanding Defensive Player with two sacks.
"We knew going in we weren't going to blitz a lot because we liked our matchups up front," said Kansas State defensive coordinator Phil Bennett. "I thought our front seven really dominated the line of scrimmage."
For Tennessee, which is expected to be one of the teams to watch in 2001 because of its youth, the loss will be turned into a lesson.
"There were a lot of times I looked out on the field, and everybody out there was coming back," said Fulmer. "I think you learn from every experience you have."
And in this case, experience mattered most.
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