November 9th – Boulder          No. 7 Colorado 49, Iowa State 42

Iowa State brought to Boulder running back Troy Davis, on his way to a season in which he would post 2,185 rushing yards.

Iowa State also brought to Boulder a team with a 2-6 overall record.

For the Colorado Homecoming game, the Cyclones tried to keep it close, but could not compete with the combination of Detmer and Carruth. Two touchdowns in the final 2:24 of the game by Iowa State gave the final score a dramatic feel, but it was 28 points posted by the Buffs within a 16-minute span in the second half which was the story of the game.

Iowa State opened the game with a 47-yard field goal on its opening possession, which Colorado countered with a touchdown drive on its first possession. Quarterback Koy Detmer hit freshman tight end Brody Heffner for an 11-yard touchdown and a 7-3 lead midway through the first quarter.

Colorado extended the lead to 14-3 a few minutes later, when Detmer hit Rae Carruth for a 77-yard touchdown, the longest play from scrimmage for the Buffs all season.

A rout seemed to be in the making, but the 49,662 on hand on a beautiful 63-degree fall afternoon were instead treated to a football game.

Iowa State scored the next ten points of the contest, pulling to within a point at 14-13 midway through the second quarter. A second Detmer-to-Carruth touchdown connection, this time from three yards out, gave the Buffs a 21-13 halftime lead.

The Buffs’ No. 7 national ranking was in jeopardy midway through the third quarter, however, after the Cyclones scored two touchdowns to take a 28-21 lead.

Then … the Colorado offense exploded.

Over the next 16 minutes, the Buffs scored four touchdowns. Two Herchell Troutman touchdowns, from one and four yards out, gave the Buffs back the lead. Detmer then posted two more scoring passes to close out the Cyclones. Detmer hit Heffner for the second time on the afternoon, this time from 25 yards out, before connecting with Carruth for a third time – a 42-yard score – to complete the onslaught.

With three minutes remaining in the game, the score was a dominant 49-28, but the Cyclones scored twice late, making the final a more respectable 49-42.

For the game, Colorado had 591 yards of total offense, 401 through the air, to counter a 228-yard rushing effort by Troy Davis. Koy Detmer continued to re-write the Colorado passing record books, adding single-season records for attempts, completions and touchdowns to the yardage record he had set the previous week against Missouri.

With the win, Colorado moved to 8-1 for 1996, 6-0 in the Big 12 Conference. The Buffs’ offense was on a roll, topping 500 total yards and 400 yards passing for the second week in a row. The Buffs were now up to No. 6 in the polls, moving up a spot after the previous No. 6, Tennessee, inexplicably fell to Memphis, 21-17.

The 1996 season would now boil down to two games against two top ten teams.

Two top ten teams which also happened to play in the same Northern Division of the Big 12.

Up first: No. 8 Kansas State. The Wildcats were also 8-1, with their only loss coming to Nebraska, 39-3, back in September.

Game Notes –

– Tight end Brody Heffner had four catches for 60 yards against Iowa State, with his two touchdown catches his only scores of the 1996 season. Heffner finished the season with 20 catches for 288 yards, and was voted to The Sporting News Freshman All-American team. Heffner also earned honorable mention All-Big 12.

– Before Detmer came along, Kordell Stewart held most of the single season passing records at Colorado. In 1996, Koy Detmer raised the bar on single season passing attempts (363, up from 294 – Stewart, 1993), completions (208, up from 157 – Stewart, 1993), passing yards (3,156, up from 2,229 – Stewart, 1993) and touchdown passes (22, up from 20 – John Hessler, 1995).

– Detmer also teamed up with Rae Carruth to set a new record for touchdown passes, duo, for a season (8, passing Kordell Stewart to Charles Johnson – 7 in 1993), and for a career (12, passing Kordell Stewart to Michael Westbrook – 11 between 1992-94).

– Detmer had a touchdown pass for the ninth consecutive game, passing the record of eight set by Darian Hagan (1990-91).

– With his 401 yards passing against Iowa State, Detmer also created a new statistical category for the CU record book –  Most consecutive games, 400 yards passing: 2.

– Two other new categories for the CU record book which didn’t exist prior to Detmer’s 1996 season – Most Games, 400 yards passing, Season, 3; and Most Games, 400-yards passing, Career: 5.

– Overlooked in all of the Detmer-to-Carruth highlights were the efforts of junior wide receiver Phil Savoy. Against Iowa State, Savoy had the most receptions of any Buff in a game all season (8), and had his second consecutive 100-yard game, going for 104 yards. Carruth and Savoy each posted 100 yard games against both Missouri and Iowa State, only the eighth and ninth times in school history in which two Buffs each had 100-yard receiving in the same games.

– The victory for the Buffs was the 13th straight in the series against Iowa State, extending the Buffs’ longest streak in the decades old rivalry. Overall, Colorado moved to 39-11-1 in the series, with a 19-5-1 record in games played in Boulder.

– Iowa State failed to win another game in 1996, closing out the season with a 2-9 record, 1-7 in Big 12 play.

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