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

Honolulu, Hawaii

Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...

. earned its first bowl win in 31 years over an 8-4 BYU

1992 BYU Cougars football team

The 1992 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University for the 1992 NCAA Division I-A football season.-Schedule:...

 team led by reserve quarterback Tom Young, the younger brother of NFL hall-of-famer Steve Young. Young earned the start after starting quarterback Ryan Hancock

Ryan Hancock

Ryan Lee Hancock is a retired professional baseball player who played 1 season for the California Angels of Major League Baseball. He was one of two American League pitchers to get a hit during the 1996 season on June 9. The other AL pitcher to get a hit that year was Roger Clemens on May...

 went down with a season-ending injury in the regular season finale against Utah.

The Cougars were favored over the 7-4 Jayhawks, who had lost three straight games coming into the bowl games.

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 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 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.