Untold stories from BYU’s 1996 Cotton Bowl-winning season

When BYU’s 1996 football team reunites to ‘Light the Y’ prior to Saturday night’s game against Kansas State, it will be like a classic rock band getting back together. Time and events may have scattered the roster, but once back on the field together, it will be as if they never left.
“We had great camaraderie back then and we still have great camaraderie now,” former All-American tight end Chad Lewis told the “Y’s Guys” podcast this week. The 1996 Cougars, who went 14-1 and defeated Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Day, will be recognized as part of BYU’s season-long celebration commemorating its 100 years of football.
In all those years, no Cougars team won more games than the boys of ′96.
“We were talented at every spot. We had great competition at every practice. We were all fighting to get on the field,” Lewis said. “At the tight end spot, there was me and Itula Mili. We loved each other and were both fighting to get balls — and we had a blast doing it.”
Both Lewis and Mili went on to play nine seasons in the NFL and the BYU quarterback who helped get them there, is currently the head coach at No. 1 Texas. Understandably, Steve Sarkisian won’t be at Saturday’s reunion due to the Longhorns’ date with UL Monroe, but his 4,321 passing yards and 35 touchdowns in 1996 are etched in BYU’s history book as one of the greatest performances of all time.
“We went on a heck of a run and a really cool journey together, culminating in Dallas winning the Cotton Bowl,” Sarkisian told BYUtv at the 2023 Big 12 Media Days. “That was a tight-knit group. There may have been more talented BYU teams, but I don’t know if there has been one that was as tight and together as that team was.”
The magic sauce behind the 1996 team was stirred up in the offseason. The Cougars finished 1995 with a 7-4 record and a share of the WAC championship, but they were left out of the bowl season for the first time in 18 years.
Bound and determined to bounce back in a big way, Lewis and a handful of teammates asked for a midsummer meeting with coach LaVell Edwards in the conference room above his office.
“We said, ‘LaVell, we want to be national champs this year. We feel like we have the team that can do it and we are willing to do whatever it takes to get there,” Lewis recalled. “Everyone was putting on the table what they wanted to do. Some guys were saying what they would give up to make it happen.”
Intrigued, Edwards sat and listened.
“We also had a couple of requests for LaVell,” Lewis said. “Steve (Sarkisian) said, ‘We want to cover the ramp where we come out onto the field. Can we do that?’ LaVell is like, ‘Yeah, I think we can do that.’” Lewis said. “Steve also said, ‘And we want some smoke.’ He said, ‘Yeah, I think we can get that done, too.’”
The meeting ended with an understanding that 1996 was going to be different.
“It was such a cool adult conversation because (LaVell) was full legend status at this time, and he was talking to us like we were adults. He was talking to us like he loved us.” Lewis said. “We knew he was going to bat for us, and he did. I wanted to bottle that conversation with him and that group of players, and that feeling — that’s what ripped us right into the season with a lot of confidence and momentum.”
On a late August Saturday afternoon, the Cougars left the locker room, walked under a new, covered ramp and took the field to a plume of blue smoke — and then they stunned No. 13 Texas A&M 41-37 to begin a journey that would end as the winningest season in school history.
BYU walked into the halftime locker room of the first WAC championship game against Wyoming with a 13-nothing lead. The typical rah, rah stuff was left at the door. The team that figured they were two quarters away from breaking through the Bowl Alliance blockade to reach the Fiesta Bowl, sat still with a broken heart.
“Just before halftime Itula (Mili) blew out his knee. He was tackled very low by the Wyoming safety and his knee was gone. We all knew it,” Lewis said. “It was so sad. It was such a bummer. He had such a great year.”
The team watched Mili’s father provide a priesthood blessing. The feelings from the scene still choke Lewis up today — 28 years later.
“In that moment, with his dad in the locker room giving him a blessing, Whew, none of us wanted to come back out to play,” Lewis said. “You could tell when you watch the game. It was like, ‘What happened in the third quarter? Where were you guys?’ Our hearts were still broken.”
Wyoming scored 17 unanswered points in the second half before Lewis caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Sarkisian to snap the Cougars out of their funk. A spirited back-and-forth fourth quarter ended with a last-second Ethan Pochman field goal to force overtime and another kick from Pochman won the game 28-25.
“We rallied. We fought back,” Lewis said. “That whole team competed.”
Winning one for Mili meant the world to Lewis.
“I loved playing with him. I loved watching him in practice making unbelievable plays. I loved watching him in games, he was so big and light on his feet with great hands,” he said. “For us, I’m telling you, it was a joy to play tight end at BYU. We were playing after a long line of legendary tight ends. We knew how important it was to the offense, and we loved walking on the field playing tight end at BYU.”
Snubbed by the Bowl Alliance, No. 5 BYU was sent to the Cotton Bowl to face No. 14 Kansas State. A shot at making history helped the Cougars refocus after their initial disappointment of losing Mili and missing out on the Fiesta Bowl.
“Playing on New Year’s Day meant everything to us. We knew it was LaVell’s first time playing on New Year’s Day. We knew he deserved it,” Lewis said. “We wanted to win that game for him. We talked about it as a team. We had a great week of practice.”
With many players donning Mili’s No. 88 on the back of their helmets, BYU rallied from a 15-5 fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Wildcats, 19-15. Lewis led the Cougars with five receptions for 79 yards. Sarkisian threw two touchdown passes and Tim McTyer and Omarr Morgan each had an interception. Morgan’s pick stopped Kansas State’s final drive at the 4-yard line.
“It was the whole team coming together. We not only beat Kansas State, but we beat the refs who tried as hard as they could in that game to beat us,” Lewis said. “We were in a sea of absolute purple in the Cotton Bowl. It was a perfect environment. It was just sweet.”
With the victory, BYU became the first Division I program to win 14 games in the same season.
“As soon as that clock ticked to zero, there was a group of missionaries down at the other end of the field,” Lewis said. “We sprinted down there and (celebrated) in front of them and just had a moment with the whole team, realizing that we just won a New Year’s Day bowl game. We were laughing. We were crying. It was so sweet. That was a good one.”
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.