The BYU football team has put away the pads and hung up the cleats on the longest season in collegiate football history. It was a season of many firsts, including a come-from-behind 19-15 victory over Kansas State University in the 61st annual Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day.

The victory in the historic Cotton Bowl earned the BYU Cougars a 14-1 record, making this victory arguably one of the top two or three wins in the annals of BYU football history. It was a victory that crowned a sterling season that began seven months ago with the Pigskin Classic in August."People don't know how difficult it is to get up for 15 games," said BYU Coach LaVell Edwards. "That's way too much football."

The Cougars ended the year with a 5th-place national ranking after winning the inaugural Western Athletic Conference championship against the University of Wyoming in a 28-25 overtime slugfest in December. Next to the national championship they won in 1984, this is the highest ranking the Cougars have ever received. Their only loss came on Sept. 14 to the University of Washington, 29-17.

Despite BYU's record and national ranking, the Cougars entered the Cotton Bowl as four-point underdogs to the 14th-ranked Wildcats of the Big 12. And going into the fourth quarter, it appeared the pollsters were accurate.

The Wildcats had scored two touchdowns and held a 15-5 lead after scoring on a fling-and-a-prayer bomb on the last play of the first half, and on a short pass that was turned into a 72-yard TD in the third quarter.

But feeling confident that the Cougar receivers could get open against the Wildcats' backup cornerbacks, quarterback Steve Sarkisian started the fourth quarter by throwing a 32-yard touchdown pass to James Dye. Then, on the next series, he tossed a TD to K.O. Kealaluhi for a 28-yard pass to take the lead, 19-15 with 3:39 remaining. BYU defensive back Omarr Morgan then sealed the victory when he stepped in front of a Wildcat slant pass to intercept the ball on the BYU 3-yard line with 55 seconds remaining.

"Whew!" LaVell Edwards said after gaining some composure following the game. "Obviously, it was a great victory."

Kansas State coach Bill Snyder came away impressed with the Cougars. "They're ranked No. 5 in the country and deserve to be," he said.

But beyond the pomp and pagentry surrounding the Cotton Bowl, the image Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve will remember is the loyalty and support shown by the wives of the BYU players to their husbands and children.

"I was deeply impressed," said Elder Perry, who, by assignment, represented the Church at the game and spoke at a fireside the Sunday before the game.

The Cougar football team, along with the players' wives and children, resembled a family reunion more than a nationally ranked powerhouse when they arrived at the airport towing high chairs and car seats.

"You had to be impressed with the wives who cared for little children in small hotel rooms while their husbands were off practicing football for long hours," he said.

Another image Elder Perry said he will remember is how many of the players ran to celebrate their moment of victory with the missionaries from the Dallas and Fort Worth missions, who were seated in the stands, instead of running to the press.

"There was a lump in my throat to see that their missionary spirit is still alive," he said.

Elder Perry, along with BYU Pres. Merrill J. Bateman and several football players, spoke at the area fireside.

At the same time the fireside was being held, Elder Perry said, a popular comedian was entertaining fans and players at a bowl-sponsored party. The contrast in activities caught the attention of a local newspaper which published a story the next day comparing the diverse nature of interests, he said.

At the game, nearly 300 missionaries from both missions, dressed in their dark suits and white shirts, "sat in the end zone and rooted for all they were worth," according to Pres. Paul A. Hanks of the Texas Dallas Mission.

"People saw the missionaries at the game and are making the association with the Church's media campaign on television," Pres. Hanks said.

Relations with the media have never been better, he said. He told how the Dallas Morning News ran an extended article on the mission activities of several key BYU football players a week before the game. Using a variety of pictures, including a picture of Chad Lewis cutting down grass in a Taiwanese cemetery and a picture of Alan Boardman hugging a child in Brazil, the article explained the challenge of giving up football to preach the gospel.

The day following the bowl victory, the newspaper played on that theme by running a game article with the headline: "Mission complete."

Pres. Stephen D. Posey of the Texas Fort Worth Mission said the exposure of the missionaries with their "excellent demeanor and clean-cut appearance and well-mannered behavior" has generated many favorable comments.

"We told our missionaries that the sole purpose of going to the game was to be an example and to create good relations," he said.

"Following the game," Pres. Posey said, "we went back to work that evening and haven't missed a beat."