COOL WHIP: Beasley too much for Tennessee as K-State wins.(The Dallas Morning News)

DALLAS _ Tennessee's future will have to wait. The old men of the Kansas State Wildcats had some unfinished business in Monday's Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl Classic.

No. 11 Kansas State (11-3) played like a veteran team while Tennessee's youth was all-too apparent in a 35-21 Wildcats victory before 63,465 frost-bitten fans. An overnight snowstorm blanketed much of the field in white but did nothing to dampen Kansas State's enthusiasm for finishing with 11 wins for the fourth consecutive season.

After halftime, most of the snow had evaporated along with Tennessee's chances of winning. The No. 21 Volunteers (8-4), winners of their last six games, saw a 21-14 halftime deficit expand to 35-14 after the first five minutes of the third quarter.

Josh Scobey was credited with the third-quarter touchdowns on runs of 12 and six yards, but it was the operation of the offense by senior quarterback Jonathan Beasley that made the difference.

Beasley threw two touchdown passes to Quincy Morgan and ran for another score in earning the game's Outstanding Offensive Player award. It was his second such honor after being named MVP of the Holiday Bowl last season.

"This is a big win for this program in a lot of ways," said Beasley. "A lot of people said K-State couldn't play in big games against teams from big conferences. Today we proved that."

Beasley's 308 total yards _ 210 passing and 98 rushing _ were the second-most in Cotton Bowl history, behind the 363 recorded by Texas' Eddie Phillips in the 1971 game. Beasley was 13 of 27 passing with one interception and rushed 17 times for an average of 5.8 yards per carry.