The 1998 Big 12 Championship Game was played on December 5, 1998, at the

Trans World Dome The Dome at America's Center is a multi-purpose stadium used for concerts, major conventions, and sporting events in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Previously known as the Trans World Dome from 1995 to 2001 and the Edward Jones Do ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The game determined the 1998 football champion of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

. The

Texas A&M Aggies Texas A&M Aggies refers to the students, graduates, and sports teams of Texas A&M University. The nickname " Aggie" was once common at land-grant or "ag" (agriculture) schools in many states. The teams are also referred to as "A&M" or "Texas Agg ...

, winners of the South Division of the Big 12, narrowly beat the Kansas State Wildcats, who won the North division, by a score of 36–33 in double overtime.Recap
/ref> This would be the only time the two teams met in the Big 12 Championship Game.

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

would not win the South Division again until 2010, when they shared it with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. K-State went on to win the North in 2000 and 2003, when they also beat Oklahoma to capture their first conference title since 1934. The game remains infamous among K-State fans, as the Wildcats' loss prevented them from being invited to what would have been the program's first-ever National Championship game. The Wildcats were coached by

Bill Snyder William D. Snyder (born October 7, 1939) is a retired college football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Kansas State University from 1989 to 2005 and again from 2009 to 2018. Snyder initially retired from the p ...

. They came into the game with an 11–0 record, including an 8–0 record in Big 12 play. The Aggies, coached by

R. C. Slocum Richard Copeland Slocum (born November 7, 1944), is a former American football player and coach. He served as the interim athletic director at Texas A&M University from January through June 2019, and previously served as the head football coach ...

, went into the game with a 10–2 record including a 7–1 mark in conference play.

Leading up to the game

The Wildcats were undefeated heading into the game, only needing a win to secure a spot in their first ever National Championship game after

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

had already lost the same day. Texas A&M was just coming off of a loss in the previous week to their bitter rival, the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

, 26–24. The loss did not stop the Aggies from winning the South Division, and set them up with a match-up with the North Division Champion and #1 (Coaches Poll) team in the country, Kansas State.

Game summary

Ranked no. 10 nationally, Texas A&M rebounded from a 27–12 fourth-quarter deficit to edge top-ranked Kansas State 36–33 in double overtime. Running back Sirr Parker scored 14 points on a pair of touchdown catches and a two-point conversion, rallying the Aggies to a 24-point surge in the final 9:20 of regulation and the extra periods. Parker's unlikely 32-yard reception for the winning TD on a 3rd-and-17 situation for Texas A&M in the final overtime capped an evening of surprising developments for both teams. The final six-pointer also gave the Aggies their first football win in history over a team ranked first nationally at the time of the contest. Texas A&M had trouble finding the end zone in the first half against the Wildcats’ defense, as KSU built a 17–6 halftime advantage. A pair of Russell Bynum field goals helped offset a brilliant passing performance by KSU quarterback Michael Bishop, who was 8-of-8 passing for 159 yards and a pair of TDs in the opening 30 minutes. Tight end Justin Swift was a favorite target as he made three catches for 47 yards and one score. Linebacker

Dat Nguyen Dat Tan Nguyen (; vi, Nguyễn Tấn Đạt, ; born September 25, 1975) is a former American football linebacker who played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. He played college foo ...

led the Aggie defense with an interception to go along with a championship-most 17 total tackles. The pilfer led to a 57-yard Aggies’ scoring drive, capped by a two-yard scoring plunge by A&M freshman fullback Ja’Mar Toombs. Quarterback

Branndon Stewart Branndon Stewart (born September 23, 1975) is a former American football player. He played quarterback for the University of Tennessee and Texas A&M University. High school career Coming out of Stephenville High School led by head coach Art ...

reeled off 245 passing yards on 11-of-20 aerial work and two touchdowns in the final quarter and two overtime periods, as the Aggies mounted the greatest comeback in the brief history of the Big 12 Championship. The two teams traded field goals in the first overtime session, with Bynum hitting from 18 yards and Gramatica connected from 22 yards. In the second overtime, KSU drove to the eight-yard line on four rushing plays of 17 yards. The Wildcats put one more field goal on the board for a 33–30 lead. Texas A&M then converted as Parker caught the pass from Stewart and eluded one tackler before lunging over the pylon in the right corner for the winning score.

Scoring summary

First Quarter
KSU (0–3) –

Martin Gramatica Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austr ...

47-yard field goal; 6:31
KSU (0–10) – Justin Swift 15-yard pass from Michael Bishop, (Gramatica kick); 2:02 Second Quarter
A&M (3–10) – Russell Bynum 25-yard field goal; 11:00
KSU (3–17) – Darnell McDonald 66-yard pass from Bishop (Gramatica kick); 10:37
A&M (6–17) – Bynum 26-yard field goal; 4:16 Third Quarter
A&M (12–17) – Ja’Mar Toombs 2-yard run (Pass failed); 8:42
KSU (12–20) – Gramatica 45-yard field goal; 4:31
KSU (12–27) – Bishop 5-yard run (Gramatica kick); 0:40
Fourth Quarter
A&M (19–27) – Leroy Hodge 13-yard pass from

(Bynum kick); 9:20
A&M (27–27) – Sirr Parker 9-yard pass from Stewart (Parker pass from Stewart); 1:05 First Overtime
A&M (30–27) – Bynum 18-yard field goal
KSU (30–30) – Gramatica 22-yard field goal Second Overtime
KSU (30–33) – Gramatica 25-yard field goal
A&M (36–33) – Parker 32-yard pass from Stewart

Game notes

* This was the first Big 12 Championship game to go to overtime

After the game

The Aggies went on to win the game in double overtime, and earning a berth in the Sugar Bowl, where they went on to lose to #3

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, 24–14. The Wildcats, anticipating a major bowl bid, fell all the way to the

Alamo Bowl The Alamo Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played annually since 1993 in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Since 2010 it matches the second choice team from the Pac-12 Conference and the secon ...

, losing to the Drew Brees led

Purdue Boilermakers The Purdue Boilermakers are the official intercollegiate athletics teams representing Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. As is common with athletic nicknames, the Boilermakers nickname is also used as colloquial designation ...

, 37–34.

References

{{College Football on ABC

Championship Game In sport, a championship is a Competition#Sports, competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match sy ...