The 1992 Aloha Bowl was played on December 25, 1992, at Aloha Stadium in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

earned its first bowl win in 31 years over an 8-4 BYU team led by reserve quarterback Tom Young, the younger brother of NFL hall-of-famer

Steve Young Jon Steven Young (born October 11, 1961) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, most notably with the San Francisco 49ers. He also played for the Tampa Bay Bu ...

. Young earned the start after starting quarterback Ryan Hancock went down with a season-ending injury in the regular season finale against Utah.

Background

Kansas won seven of their first eight games, even rising up to #13 in the polls before a matchup with #7 Nebraska. A 49–7 thrashing by the Cornhuskers sent them into a tailspin, as they lost to #13 Colorado and Missouri to close out their season. Despite this, the Jayhawks finished in 3rd place in the

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored American football, football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate ...

, their highest finish in the Big Eight since their 2nd-place finish in 1973. BYU started the season 1–3, with losses to San Diego State, UCLA and Hawaii. Wins over Utah State, Fresno State, and Wyoming got them back on the trail. After a loss to #10 Notre Dame, the Cougars rebounded with a win over #14 Penn State. Wins over New Mexico, Air Force and Utah closed out a season in which they finished in a three-way tie for the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

championship with Hawaii and Fresno State.

Game summary

BYU went up 7–0 on the game's opening play when Hema Heimuli returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Kansas evened the score at 7–7 two plays later when Kansas receiver

Matt Gay Matt Gay (born March 15, 1994) is an American professional American football, football placekicker for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Utah Utes football, Utah Utes and was sel ...

caught a pass that was ruled a lateral from quarterback Chip Hilleary and hit a wide-open Rodney Harris for a 74-yard touchdown pass. Replays showed that the first pass was in fact 2 yards forward, which would have made the play illegal with two forward passes. The Jayhawks took a 9–7 lead later in the first quarter when junior lineman Chris Maumalanga burst through the Cougars' offensive line to sack running back

Jamal Willis Jamal Willis (born 1972) is a local level leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a former NFL football player. He also works in administration for the Alpine School District in Utah. Willis was born in Oklahoma. He attended ...

in his own endzone for a safety. Willis later gained revenge with a 29-yard touchdown run with 10:16 left in the second quarter. Following his score, BYU led 14–9. On the ensuing kickoff, senior running back Maurice Douglas broke free for a 54-yard return that put the Jayhawks on the BYU 43. The return set up a 41-yard field goal from Dan Eichloff that capped the first-half scoring at 14–12. BYU scored on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Young to Otis Sterling and took a 20–12 lead into the fourth quarter, but Hilleary engineered a six-play, 75-yard drive – capped off by his one-yard run and successful two-point conversion – that tied the score at 20–20. After a Cougar punt, Kansas put together a seven-minute drive that ended in Dan Eichloff's game-winning 48-yard field goal. BYU did not fare well on its own field goal kicking, with David Lauder missing a pair of short field goals earlier in the half.

Statistics

Aftermath

The Cougars made five more bowl games in the decade, with victories in two of those games. The Jayhawks went to just one more bowl game in the decade, in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

References

{{Kansas Jayhawks bowl game navbox Aloha Bowl Aloha Bowl BYU Cougars football bowl games Kansas Jayhawks football bowl games December 1992 sports events in the United States 1992 in sports in Hawaii