Coaches likely to push for changes in overtime

Sporting News, The, Nov 18, 1996 by Ivan Maisel

Smith broke the school record for touchdowns in a season with 14 and has rushed for the most yards by any Cougars back in 19 seasons.

Extra points

Again, tip your hat to Conference USA, which includes the Memphis team that knocked Tennessee out of the Bowl Alliance last week. Our ranking of I-A conferences would put the league ahead of the Big East. Just wait until it adds East Carolina and, possibly, Army. ... In the first four games, Colorado senior Rae Carruth caught 19 passes for a 16-yard average and no touchdowns. In the Buffaloes' last five games, Carruth has caught 28 passes for a 26-yard average and eight TDs. Colorado offensive coordinator Karl Dorrell says Carruth started slowly because he worried about "all the issues seniors worry about. I told him, `Just go out and play. Do your thing on the field.' Ever since then he's come on more week after week." Coach Rick Neuheisel says that until the Buffaloes got their running game going, defenses bottled up the deep passing game.

When Alabama tailback Dennis Riddle rushed for nearly 200 yards against Tennessee, we wondered what in the world would have made Gene Stallings think Riddle hadn't been good enough to make the starting lineup at the beginning of the season. Then Shaun Alexander returned from injury and rushed for a school-record 291 Yards in the 26-0 rout of LSU. Now we know what Stallings was thinking. ... Boston College used backup quarterback Scott Mutryn as the punt snapper against Notre Dame. Mutryn is also the backup holder. Had the Eagles needed a field goal in the fourth quarter, after starting quarterback Matt Hasselbeck suffered a concussion, and had field-goal snapper Adam Myers been unavailable, Mutryn would have had to snap and hold. When asked at what point of the season Mutryn had begun to practice snapping, coach Dan Henning replied, "Thursday," the day after the team's 13 gambling-related suspensions.

Army leads the nation in rushing offense and is second in rushing defense. Only two teams have finished a season first in both categories: the 1959 Syracuse team that won the national championship and the 1986 oklahoma team that finished third to Penn State and Miami. The Cadets, who have an 11-game winning streak, longest in I-A, play at Syracuse on Saturday night. If the Independence Bowl doesn't give them a bid, the Pentagon should investigate. ... The name that keeps being mentioned for the Kentucky opening: Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe. He can't take Peyton Manning with him, but he certainly could convince Tim Couch to stay. Couch nearly went to play for Cutcliffe in Knoxville.