American college football season
The1996 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented theUniversity of Nebraska–Lincoln in the1996 NCAA Division I-A football season . The team was coached byTom Osborne and played their home games inMemorial Stadium inLincoln, Nebraska . This was the first season for Nebraska in theBig 12 Conference , which took on that name after their previous conference, theBig Eight Conference ? added four schools from the disbandedSouthwest Conference . Nebraska was placed in the new conference’s North Division along with Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, and Colorado.
The Cornhuskers entered the season as the two-time defending national champions, having won the firstBowl Alliance championship game at theFiesta Bowl in January 1996, and were ranked #1 in the polls to start the season. Nebraska also entered the season with a winning streak of 25 games, having not lost since falling to Florida State in the1994 Orange Bowl .
Nebraska opened the season with a rout of Michigan State in their home opener and traveled to faceArizona State , a team they had defeated 77-28 the year before. This time, the results were different as Nebraska was shut out in a 19-0 defeat to snap their winning streak. They would not lose again during the regular season, winning the Big XII North and climbing back up to #3 in the polls. Their division win earned the Cornhuskers a place in the firstBig 12 Championship Game against the winner of the South Division, unrankedTexas . With a potential national championship game berth at stake, Nebraska lost for the second time in 1996 as Texas defeated them 37-27 to secure the automatic Bowl Alliance berth for the conference.
Despite this, Nebraska managed to qualify for the Bowl Alliance as an at-large team and was invited to play in theOrange Bowl , where they beatVirginia Tech .
Date Time Opponent Rank Site TV Result Attendance September 7 11:00 am Michigan State * No. 1 ABC W 55–1475,590 September 21 9:15 pm at No. 17Arizona State * No. 1 FSN L 0–1974,089 September 28 11:30 am Colorado State * No. 8 Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE ABC W 65–975,575 October 5 11:30 am at No. 16Kansas State No. 7 ABC W 39–343,916 October 12 1:00 pm Baylor No. 5 Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE W 49–075,478 October 19 2:30 pm atTexas Tech No. 5 ABC W 24–1051,344 October 26 6:00 pm Kansas No. 5 Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry ) FSN W 63–775,158 November 2 11:00 am atOklahoma No. 5 ABC W 73–2175,004 November 9 1:00 pm Missouri No. 5 Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry ) W 51–775,133 November 16 1:00 pm atIowa State No. 5 W 49–1447,850 November 29 1:30 pm No. 5Colorado No. 4 Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry ) ABC W 17–1275,695 December 7 12:00 pm vs.Texas No. 3 ABC L 27–3763,109 December 31 7:00 pm vs. No. 10Virginia Tech * No. 6 CBS W 41–2151,212 *Non-conference game Rankings fromAP Poll released prior to the game All times are inCentral time
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Ranking movementsLegend: ██ Increase in ranking██ Decrease in ranking Week Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Final AP 1(50) 1(50) 1(49) 1(57) 1(58) 8 7 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 3(1) 6 6 Coaches 1(47) 1(51) 1(57) 1(58) 7 6 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 4 3 6 6
1996 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team roster Players Coaches Offense Pos. # Name Class FB 38 Dan Alexander Fr OT 70 Eric Anderson Jr WB 35 Sean Applegate Fr RB Rod Baker Fr C 57 Matt Baldwin Fr OL Sasho Becvarovski Fr IB 21 Damon Benning Sr SE Tom Beveridge Fr WB 14 Lance Brown So TE 90 Tim Carpenter Jr SE 6 Kenny Cheatham So QB 9 Monte Christo So OT 68 Jeff Clausen Fr FB 42 Josh Cobb So TE 83 T.J. DeBates Fr C Chris Deitloff Fr OL Billy Diekmann Fr G 75 Chris Dishman Sr OL Trenton Douglas Fr SE J.R. Edwards Fr IB 22 Chad Eicher Jr IB 4 DeAngelo Evans Fr OL Justin Ferrell Fr SE 87 Demond Finister Fr QB Clint Finley Fr SE 88 Craig Fischer Fr SE Tim Frame Fr QB 7 Scott Frost Jr OT 53 Lonnie Fulton Fr WB Mike Gentile Fr OT 72 Ben Gessford So WB John Gibson Fr IB 30 Ahman Green So SE 80 Billy Haafke So TE Chris Hastings Fr C 54 Aaron Havlovic Fr SE 82 Ryan Held Jr OT 74 Kyle Henson So C 59 Josh Heskew Jr OL Russ Hochstein Fr SE 5 Brendan Holbein Sr G 66 Joe Horst Jr G 62 Matt Hoskinson Jr TE 88 Sheldon Jackson So TE 34 Vershan Jackson Jr G 52 Marcus Johnson Fr OT 69 Adam Julch Fr FB 22 Ben Kingston So TE 83 Chad Kobus Fr SE 89 Jeff (Robert) Lake Jr FB 40 Billy Legate So QB 1 Frankie London Fr FB 45 Joel Makovicka So TE Jake McKee Fr OT 78 Kory Mikos Sr WB 17 Andy Miller So FB Willie Miller Fr IB 24 Jason Olnes Fr QB 12 Jeff Perino Fr RB Hank Piening Fr OT 73 Fred Pollack Jr IB 27 Steve Raymond Fr TE 86 Dorrick Roy So QB Jay Runty Fr OL Chris Saalfeld Fr FB Matt Schoening Fr FB 28 Brian Schuster Sr G 65 Jason Schwab Fr C 56 Doug Seaman Jr G 63 James Sherman Fr IB 31 James Sims Jr RB Travis Soucie Fr FB Jeremy Stanislav Fr OT 69 Jim Tansey Fr C 67 Aaron Taylor Jr FB Arby Todd Fr OT 77 Adam Treu Sr QB 11 Matt Turman Sr G 71 Mike Van Cleave Jr WB 25 Jon Vedral Sr C 51 Matt Vrzal Sr G 61 Brandt Wade So OL Brian Walters Fr TE Brandon Wardyn Fr OL David Webber Fr WB 33 Sean Wieting Jr WB 29 Shevin Wiggins So QB Chad Wiles Fr TE 85 Aaron Wills Fr G 64 Jon Zatechka Jr
Defense Special teams Head coach Coordinators/assistant coaches Charlie McBrideColorado Turner Gill Nebraska Craig Bohl Nebraska Ron Brown Brown Dan YoungReed Milt TenopirSterling Tony Samuel Nebraska George DarlingtonRutgers Frank Solich Nebraska Boyd EpleyNebraska Legend (C) Team captain(S) Suspended(I) IneligibleRoster
Defense
FS Eric Stokes Eric Warfield Eric Walther
WILL MIKE SAM Terrell Farley John Hesse Jamel Williams Mike Minter Jay Foreman Brian Shaw Eric Johnson Julius Jackson Tony Ortiz
ROVER Mike Minter Octavious McFarlin Gregg List
CB Michael Booker Jerome Peterson Mike Fullman
DE DT DT DE Grant Wistrom Jason Peter Jeff Ogard Jared Tomich Chad Kelsay Scott Saltsman Jason Wiltz Mike Rucker Kareem Sears Derek Allen Steve Warren Travis Toline
CB Ralph Brown Mike Brown Leslie Dennis
Offense
WR Jon Vedral Lance Brown Shevin Wiggins
LT LG C RG RT Adam Treu Chris Dishman Aaron Taylor Jon Zatechka Eric Anderson Fred Pollack James Shreman Josh Heskew Matt Hoskinson Kory Mikos Adam Julch Brandt Wade Matt Vrzal Mike Van Cleave Jeff Clausen
TE Tim Carpenter Vershan Jackson Sheldon Jackson
WR Brandon Holbein Kenny Cheatham ⋅
QB Scott Frost Matt Turman Monte Christo
RB Ahman Green DeAngelo Evans Damon Benning
FB Brian Schuster Joel Makovicka Billy Legate
Michigan State at Nebraska [box score]
Nebraska at Arizona State [box score]
Colorado State at Nebraska [box score]
Nebraska at Kansas State [box score]
Baylor at Nebraska [box score]
Team 1 2 3 4 Total Baylor 0 0 0 0 0 •Nebraska 7 21 14 7 49
Nebraska at Texas Tech [box score]
Kansas at Nebraska [box score]
Team 1 2 3 4 Total Kansas 0 7 0 0 7 •Nebraska 7 35 14 7 63
Nebraska at Oklahoma [box score]
Team 1 2 3 4 Total •Nebraska 0 17 28 28 73 Oklahoma 0 0 0 21 21
Missouri at Nebraska [box score]
Team 1 2 3 4 Total Missouri 0 0 0 7 7 •Nebraska 7 16 28 0 51
Nebraska at Iowa State [box score]
Colorado at Nebraska [box score]
Team 1 2 3 4 Total Colorado 6 0 3 3 12 •Nebraska 7 10 0 0 17
Nebraska vs Texas [box score]
Team 1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 7 10 7 3 27 •Texas 7 13 3 14 37
Virginia Tech vs Nebraska [box score]
Ranking movementsLegend: ██ Increase in ranking██ Decrease in ranking Week Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Final AP 1 1 1 1 1 8 7 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 3 6 6 Coaches 6
[ 2]
Award Name(s) All-America 1st team Aaron Taylor , Jared Tomich,Grant Wistrom All-America 2nd team Chris Dishman Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Grant Wistrom All-America Freshman 1st team Ralph Brown All-Big 12 1st team Chris Dishman,Jon Hesse ,Jared Tomich ,Mike Minter ,Jason Peter , Aaron Taylor, Grant Wistrom All-Big 12 2nd team Eric Anderson,Michael Booker ,Kris Brown , Jeff Ogard,Jamel Williams All-Big 12 3rd team Scott Frost , Terrell Farley,Ahman Green All-Big 12 honorable mention Ralph Brown, DeAngelo Evans, Brendan Holbein, Vershan Jackson, Jesse Kosch, Brian Schuster,Eric Stokes , Jon Vedral, Jamel Williams Big 12 coach of the Year Tom Osborne
NFL and pro players [ edit ] The following Nebraska players who participated in the 1996 season later moved on to the next level and joined a professional or semi-pro team as draftees or free agents.[ 3]
Venues Rivalries Games Culture and lore People Seasons National championship seasons inbold
