FOOTBALL
K
SECTION B
MONDAY. NOVEMBER 4.1996
KANSAS
34
IOWA STATE
31
After bad luck, Ben Rutz gets a chance to shine
by Bill Petulla Kansan sports editor
AMES, Iowa — Ben Rutz crouched behind the center ready to take the snap. Kansas trailed traditional Midwest punching bag Iowa State 31-27. Seventy-one yards stood between Rutz and the end zone. But an array of disappointments, injuries and chancy decisions stood between Rutz even stepping into this situation.
After tearing a ligament in his right knee at Nebraska, he took his once-blazing speed and explosive right arm and left in favor of Northeastern Oklahoma A&M. He led Northeastern Oklahoma A&M to an NJCAA championship, but few noticed. Glen Mason, however, was one of those few, and he gave Rutz a scholarship. After spending a year in the shadow of Mark Williams, Rutz was the heir apparent for this season's starting quarterback job.
But Rutz suffered another knee ligament tear last April, this time in his left knee — another major setback, which meant an uncertain future and countless hours of rehabilitation. No, nothing has been easy for Rutz away from the football field. Nothing. If the Jayhawks' 1996 season was a Shakespearean drama, then Ben Rutz would most likely be the Jayhawks' tragic figure.
But none of the past mattered now. Now Rutz took center stage.
Edmée Rodriguez / KANSAN
Kansas running back June Henley tries to keep his balance as Iowa State's Jason Brown attempts to stop him. Henley rushed 226 yards and had three touchdowns during Saturday's 34-31 win against Iowa State.
He was far removed from the "Sea of Red" cathedral in Nebraska. Away from the pain of going under the knife so many times that his knees look like a road map. Far away from the coaches who deemed Rutz better suited for the sidelines.
It was just Ben Rutz now, at the 29-yard line trying to win a football game for his team. This fall Saturday was no longer about pain, disappointment and regret. It was about football again. Just football.
The Cyclones, now keying on the running of June Henley, forced Rutz to throw, which he did, rifling a bullet to Eric Vann for 19 yards. Henley powered the ball 22 yards on the following play. Kansas was moving the ball now. Everything was clicking. On second and nine, Rutz got flushed out of the pocket, knifed his way around Cyclone defenders and launched an off-balance torpedo to Isaac Byrd, who had found a small opening in the Iowa State secondary.
Then, with the end zone becoming closer for Kansas, the Iowa State defense came out fighting. ISU stopped the pass, put up a barricade against the running of Henley, as 37,850 screaming Cyclone fans sensed a defensive stand.
Years standing on the sidelines wondering when he would get his chance. Months of painful rehabilitation. Hours under the knife. It all came down to a fourth-and-one for Ben Rutz.
As Rutz confidently trotted off the field, he gave a winner's smile. He had, for this brief moment, conquered a nemesis that had beleaguered him his entire college football career — bad luck. The dark cloud that has hung over Ben Rutz during the last several years finally had a silver lining.
With Henley in the backfield, the decoy was in place. Coach Mason had another plan for the Jayhawks other than giving their one-time Heisman hopeful a crack at the first down. And those plans had Rutz throwing a short slant pattern to Byrd — a play that Iowa State coach Dan McCarney would later admit was the play on which his Cyclones were keving.
Rutz took a two-step drop and fired a perfect strike to Byrd, just inches away from the outstretched hands of Cyclones defensive back Kevin Hudson.
AP Top 25
The Top Twenty Five teams in The Associated Press college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 2, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and last week's ranking:
rank team rec pts prv
1. Florida (59) 8-0 1,667 1
2. Ohio St. (5) 8-0 1,582 2
3. Florida St. (2) 7-0 1,564 3
4. Arizona St. (1) 9-0 1,477 4
5. Nebraska **7-1** **1,406** **5**
6. Tennessee 6-1 1,344 6
7. Colorado **7-1** **1,218** **7**
8. North Carolina 7-1 1,204 8
9. Michigan 7-1 1,133 9
10. Alabama 7-1 1,086 10
11. LSU 6-1 902 12
12. Brigham Young 9-1 858 13
13. Kansas St. **7-1** **813** **14**
14. Penn St. 8-2 810 15
15. Virginia 6-2 684 16
16. Wyoming 9-0 646 17
17. Notre Dame 5-2 583 19
18. Northwestern 7-2 518 11
19. Washington 6-2 439 21
20. Southern Miss. 8-1 341 23
21. Miami 6-2 336 22
22. Auburn 6-2 298 24
23. Iowa 6-2 269 25
24. Syracuse 5-2 233 —
25. Virginia Tech 6-1 137 —
Bowl bid still possible
Other teams receiving votes: East Carolina 86, Army 82, West Virginia 39, California 7, Texas Tech 5, Air Force 2, Rice 2, Utah 2, Clem son 1, Colorado St. 1.
Topsy-turvy game results in narrow Kansas victory
By Dan Gelston
Kansan sportswriter
AMES, Iowa — There's a pulse left in the Jayhawks' season simply because the team had some heart.
Kansas' bowl hopes remain alive because of its guts as well. Kansas beat Iowa State 34-3 Saturday afternoon at Cyclone Stadium.
With Kansas trailing 31-27 late in the fourth quarter, senior quarterback Ben Rutz led the Jayhawks on an eight-play, 71-yard drive that nearly stalled at the Cyclone's eight-vard line.
Faced with a fourth-and-one and with the season on the line, Kansas coach Glen Mason went against the safe odds of giving the ball to senior running back June Henley and instead called for a pass play.
The Jayhawks went with a quick slant play from Rutz to senior wide receiver Isaac Byrd. It worked. Byrd scored the game-winning touchdown with 2:13 remaining.
"They'd been giving it up all day," Byrd said. "They were playing bump and run, right up in my face. But Ben made a great throw. It hit me in the chest."
It was a game that had 10 lead changes, seven missed point-after-touchdown conversions, four missed two-point conversion attempts, and two fourth-quarter touchdowns by a Cyclone defense ranked 107th nationally.
Rutz, in his first Division I-A start, was 14 of 22 for 204 yards and one interception. With 6:49 remaining, Rutz was picked off by Iowa State sophomore defensive back Dawan Anderson who went 29 yards for a touchdown and a 31-27 lead.
It was the kind of play that could have demoralized an inexperienced I-A quarterback. But not Rutz.
"He came to the sidelines and said, 'Next series,' Byrd said. "That's the type of player he is. He doesn't get upset. He doesn't raise his voice. He leads by example."
Byrd had plenty of reasons to praise Butz—11 as a matter of fact.
Byrd's 11 receptions tied Quinton Smith's single-game school record, and Byrd's 158 vards are a career-high.
The wacky tone of the game was set on
the Jayhawks' first drive. Henley, who did not start, scored from five yards out for a 6-0 lead. But a bad snap by Pat Bishop caused McCord to miss the extrapoint.
snap on the point-after attempt, and McCord's kick was wide left.
The Cyclones took a 7-16 lead on their ensuing drive. Two series later, the Jayhawks scored with senior running back Mark Sanders's six-yard touchdown run. But a bad snap on the point-after attempt resulted in junior holder Matt Johner throwing the ball away.
With 40 seconds left in the second quarter, Henley had an 11-yard touchdown run, but there was another bad
"Football is very much a team game," McCord said. "I don't want to point the finger anywhere or at anyone."
After that, Bishop was out, and freshman Sean McDermott was in.
"We thought it would be our damnation when we missed three kicks," Mason said. "We made the switch in our snapper position and it proved to be our salvation."
The switch indeed saved Kansas. With 9:56 left in the game, and with McDermott in place, Mason sent McCord out
to attempt a 51-yard field goal. The kick was good and it pulled the Jayhawks to within one point at 25-24.
"On the sidelines, I asked him what he thought," Mason said of McCord. "He said, 'Let's do it.'"
And with their bowl dreams on the line, the Jayhawks did do it. They won on the road and kept the season alive for at least one more week.
"We really needed this," defensive tackle Dewey Houston III said. "We knew we had to win, especially if we wanted a bowl bid. This was big, but there's still more to be done."
iowa State defensive tackle Greg Schoon dives after Kansas quarterback Ben Rutz Saturday as he grabs for more yards.
Top running backs battle
By Dan Gelston
Kansan sportswriter
The subplot to Saturday's Kansas-Iowa State game was the battle of its respective running backs. The Cyclones Troy Davis entered the game as the nation's leading rusher for the second straight year and is one of the leading Heisman Trophy candidates.
AMES, Iowa — It was a battle of this season's Heisman contenders, present and past. And the past won.
Jayhawk June Henley sparked Heisman talk with his big early-season numbers. But after slumping statistically and serving a one-game suspension for an arrest of operating a vehicle under the influence, Henley has fallen out of the national spotlight.
But in the Jayhawks 34-31 win against Iowa State on Saturday, Henley got the better of Davis —not just
on the scoreboard, but statistically as well.
Henley, the nation's eighth-leading rusher, carried 40 times for 226 yards and three touchdowns. Davis countered with 171 yards on 33 carries and a touchdown.
"If anyone thinks 28's not the real deal, he's mistaken," Kansas coach Glen Mason said of Davis, who wears No. 28. "When you watch Troy Davis, he gets some sneaky yards. You think you do a good job, and he has 171 yards. You can't go into it defending just one guy, but to hold Iowa Sate to 172 rushing yards — that's pretty good."
He puts up big numbers statistically; but the Cyclones, 2-6 overall, lose.
But games like Saturday's are the norm for Davis.
"I don't know if we give up or whatever," Davis said. "But we always come up short. We were moving the
ball, passing the ball. I don't know."
Iowa State coach Dan McCarney said that he was aware of the speculation that Davis would leave for the National Football League after this season.
"We har tough and he ran hard," McCarney said. "We're just hoping his career at Iowa State will last longer than three years."
Kansas junior defensive tackle Dewey Houston II said that he was pleased with the job that the defense did at stopping Davis.
Kansas wide receiver Isaac Byrd said that Davis and Henley were college football's best running backs.
"I think we played OK," Houston said. "We had some big plays against us that we shouldn't have allowed. For Troy Davis, 200 yards is usually pretty good for him. But we don't want to allow 171 yards to anybody."
"I think both of them have bright futures ahead of them." Byrd said.
ABC pulls the plug on game broadcast
By Cameron Heeg
Kansan staff writer
Fans all over the region can listen, but only the 51,500 fans that fit in Memorial Stadium can watch.
Despite the fierce interstate rivalry, lack of Kansas television appearances and the highest ticket price in Kansas history ($35), ABC pulled the plug on the Kansas-Kansas State football game this Saturday. Instead, ABC decided to air the Texas A&M-Baylor game for its regional cov
erage. Officials for ABC cited the larger number of televisions in Texas as a deciding factor.
"If we're going to make those decisions based on the number of television sets, then we're going to have to redo the distribution formula, because clearly the South Division teams are going to benefit greatly," Kansas Athletic Director Bob Frederick told the Associated Press last week.
One of the main benefits that Kansas will miss out on is the $145,000 that ABC pays for a regional TV appearance. Big 12
universities are given a maximum of five appearances on ABC, and Kansas has yet to cash in on one. Kansas State, who has had two ABC appearances against Nebraska and Texas Tech, will also miss out on revenue generated at the game, according to conference rules that allow the home team to keen profits.
The FOX sports network, the other carrier of conference games, selected Oklahoma-Oklahoma State for the 11 a.m. regional game and Texas-Texas Tech for the 6 p.m. cable game.
This means that none of the Northern teams in the Big 12 Conference will be represented on TV.
"We need to find the best way to promote the Big 12 as a whole so everyone can benefit. And then all the schools can grow together as a dominate force," said Kent Brown, sports information director for Kansas State."After all, K-State, Nebraska and Colorado are ranked nationally in the top 25. And when you look at balance in the Conference, it is a joke that the game won't be on TV."
The only people who seem to be enjoying that joke are the area radio stations who plan on an increase in listeners.
"Naturally the situation is good for us and the other radio stations that will carry the game," said Brock Bowling, sports director at KJHK. "We are excited at the potential, and we will be pushing the game hard to our listeners during the week."
The game will be carried by local and regional stations including the Lazar, 105.9 FM, and KJHK, 90.7 FM.