You don’t need to search hard on YouTube to find highlights of Steve Sarkisian showing magic as a quarterback for BYU in 1995 and 1996. It’s a topic that comes up often this week as Sarkisian prepares No. 7 Texas for its highly anticipated matchup against the Cougars Saturday at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
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This is only the second time that a team coached by Sargsyan has faced his alma mater; the first was a season-opening loss to the Cougars in 2010, when he was Washington’s leader.
Sarkisian was asked this week if the BYU game meant a little more to him since he would be coaching against some of his former teammates and against his old program.
“In the end, of course, but I want to beat them too and I’m sure they want to beat me,” Sargsyan said. “So that’s how it goes.”
Sarkisian was an All-American and Sammy Baugh Trophy winner as the nation’s top quarterback during his two seasons in Provo. After spending his first two collegiate years at El Camino College in California, Sarkisian joined BYU and set a program passing record for completion percentage by throwing for 7,464 yards, 53 touchdowns and 26 interceptions during his two years with the Cougars.
The Cougars went 7-4 and won a share of the WAC championship in 1995 when Sarkisian was a junior and missed a bowl game invitation for the first time in nearly 20 years.
BYU and Sarkisian were the toast of college football in 1996, going 13-1 in the regular season, good enough for a No. 5 ranking in the Associated Press poll and a spot over 14th-ranked Kansas State, in the Cotton Bowl. Sarkisian even appeared on the cover of the December 28, 1996 issue of TV Guide to promote the Cougars’ participation in the prestigious bowl game.
“You know, (those are) good memories,” Sarkisian said. “I will say we had a heck of a team my senior year, and I had awesome, awesome teammates and great coaches.”
Sarkisian threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to help the Cougars earn a 19-15 victory, allowing BYU to be the first NCAA Division I-A team to win 14 games in a season.
“Coach (LaVell) Edwards was a great mentor of mine and instilled in me a lot of the things we do now,” Sarkisian added. “And for me, as a head coach, with the players that we have on our team, I think about some of the big wins that we had when I was at BYU, but I also think about those relationships.”
