I’d like to say that I stopped caring about Washington (for now) head football coach Rick Neuheisel a long time ago, but it’s not true.

The guy annoyed me far too much for him to simply disappear from my mind after his four seasons at Colorado, in which he “beat” Iowa State four times (the 1997 game was forfeited to the Cyclones because the Buffaloes used an ineligible player).

On the football field, Neuheisel’s teams had annoying habit of racking up points late on the Cyclones. They had fourth quarter rallies in Ames in 1995 and 1997 to win by scores of 50—28 and 43—38, and held off an ISU surge in 1996 in Boulder to come out on top 49—42.

Most teams scored a lot on Iowa State in those seasons, though. No reason to single out Neuheisel and his Buffaloes for resentment.

Sometimes, Neuheisel’s boyish looks seem a little out of place on the football field. He’s been a lawyer since 1990, something few college football coaches can say.

These things just distinguish the man, though. They don’t lead to a fixation.

The figure “50” in that 1995 football game against the Cyclones is the one that stands out to me. You see, it should have been “51”.

Iowa State led 28—27 just 48 seconds into the fourth quarter after Troy Davis’ 45-yard touchdown run. Colorado ripped off two touchdowns and a field goal to grab a 44—28 lead when Marlon Barnes scored on an eight-yard run with 2:15 left in the game.

Then things really got interesting.

Because of a personal foul, Colorado was forced to try their extra point from the 18-yard-line. This happens from time to time, of course — it just becomes a 35-yard field goal for a team’s kicker that scores only a single point. Most coaches — and by “most” I mean “all” — would try the kick and get the game over with. Who cares about winning by 24 or 23 or 22?

Neuheisel decided to try for a two-point conversion.

The Buffaloes were 25-point favorites, so they needed to score at least another field goal to reach that mark — the two-pointer wouldn’t help

As the fans in Cyclone Stadium booed, quarterback John Hessler’s long pass was knocked down. Colorado players and ISU fans jawed and yelled at one another until the clock ran out with a 50—28 final.

Here’s what Coach Neuheisel had to say in the Associated Press article recapping the game:

Neuheisel said he was just looking for a way to boost quarterback John Hessler, who completed only 11 of 23 passes and was intercepted twice.

“I thought it would be a good thing to try to finish the game with a completed pass,” Neuheisel said. “That’s why I did it. If I was wrong, I was wrong. But it wasn’t trying to run up the score, it wasn’t trying to affect the polls, it wasn’t trying to show up Iowa State.”

I’m not entirely sure what that means, but I was positive then, and I’m positive now that I don’t believe it.

ISU coach Dan McCarney, then in his first season, took the high road after the game and said he was upset at his defense for giving up the touchdown, and that he couldn’t control what Colorado did.

Of course, I’m not the first one to take offense at that ending. Former Daily sports editor Jason Howland wrote a column bashing the Buffaloes after the game, and even the Daily editorial board got into the act, saying members of the Colorado team conducted themselves in a “flatly inappropriate” way.

Four years later, I was happy to see Neuheisel leave. Now he is in trouble again, fired by his athletic director for betting $5,000 in an NCAA Tournament pool.

To most sane people, this is a pretty obvious violation of NCAA rules that prohibit gambling on college sports. Here’s an excerpt from the rule, from NCAA bylaw 10.3:

“[Staff] members of the athletics department of a member institution…shall not knowingly

…Participate in any gambling activity that involves intercollegiate athletics or professional athletics, through a bookmaker, a parlay card or any other method employed by organized gambling.”

I thought it was clear, but then I thought the Buffs would go for one point in 1995.

Now Neuheisel, on leave with pay, is appealing his firing. The lawyer-coach might be able to save his job, he might not. (Jerry Crawford, who represented Larry Eustachy in early May, is a part of his legal team.)

In either case, he probably won’t ever gain a whole lot of respect in my eyes.