Carmody kicks Louisville to win

Art Carmody filled the one hole in his resume just in time to salvage Louisville’s disappointing season.

The record-setting kicker drilled a 33-yard field goal with 20 seconds left to lift the Cardinals to a 41-38 victory over stunned Rutgers on Thursday, upstaging the going-away party of quarterback Brian Brohm.

“I couldn’t ask for a better ending,” Carmody said. “One of my goals when I came here was kicking a game-winning field goal. It had to come down to the last quarter, the last play.”

The senior, who set an NCAA record for career points by a kicker, had never made one like this during his career. He went out in style though, calmly drilling the ball through the uprights.

Carmody finished his career with 433 points, breaking the old record held by Houston’s Roman Anderson, who had 423 points for the Cougars from 1988 to ’91.

Carmody’s feat wouldn’t have been possible without Brohm, who threw for 237 yards, including a 46-yard strike to Harry Douglas to put Carmody in range to win it.

The Cardinals, 6-6 overall, 3-4 in the Big East Conference, rallied from 18 points down in the second half to beat the Scarlet Knights (7-5, 3-4).

Before the game, Rutgers accepted a bid to play in the International Bowl.

Buffalo Coach Turner Gill sidestepped questions regarding his status as one of the leading candidates for the head job at Nebraska. “Can’t comment on that,” said Gill, the former Nebraska standout and assistant coach. Gill and Louisiana State defensive coordinator Bo Pelini are considered front-runners for the position.

Tom Osborne named himself interim head coach at Nebraska, allowing him to visit prospective recruits and try to prevent the program from slipping during the recruiting contact period. . . . Connecticut Coach Randy Edsall traveled to Atlanta to meet with Georgia Tech officials about the school’s coaching vacancy, a Huskies official said. Edsall served as defensive backs coach at Georgia Tech in 1998. . . .

The Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System released Joe Paterno’s salary more than a week after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that his salary and those of other top Penn State officials are public information. Paterno, the Penn State coach, was paid $427,220 in the first 10 months of 2007 -- putting his year-end salary on track to be $512,664. He was paid $490,638 last year, according to the retirement system. . . .

A jury in Scottsboro, Ala., awarded $5 million to a former Alabama booster who claimed the NCAA defamed him when it imposed penalties on the Crimson Tide in 2002. The state court jury awarded Ray Keller $3 million in punitive damages, $1 million for mental anguish, $500,000 for economic loss and $500,000 for damage to reputation.