1996 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

The 1996 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Tom Osborne and played their home games in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

1996 Nebraska Cornhuskers football
Big 12 North Division champion
Orange Bowl champion
Orange Bowl, W 41–21 vs. Virginia Tech
ConferenceBig 12 Conference
DivisionNorth Division
Ranking
CoachesNo. 6
APNo. 6
Record11–2 (8–0 Big 12)
Head coach
Offensive schemeI formation
Defensive coordinatorCharlie McBride (16th season)
Base defense4–3
Home stadiumMemorial Stadium
Seasons
← 1995
1997 →
1996 Big 12 Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
North Division
No. 6 Nebraska x%   8 0     11 2  
No. 8 Colorado   7 1     10 2  
No. 17 Kansas State   6 2     9 3  
Missouri   3 5     5 6  
Kansas   2 6     4 7  
Iowa State   1 7     2 9  
South Division
No. 23 Texas x$   6 2     8 5  
Texas Tech   5 3     7 5  
Texas A&M   4 4     6 6  
Oklahoma   3 5     3 8  
Oklahoma State   2 6     5 6  
Baylor   1 7     4 7  
Championship: Texas 37, Nebraska 27
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
  • $ – Bowl Alliance representative as champion
    % – Bowl Alliance at-large representative
Rankings from AP Poll

This was the first season for Nebraska in the Big 12 Conference, which took on that name after adding four schools from the disbanded Southwest Conference; the conference had been known as the Big Eight Conference since 1964, and was the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association before that. Nebraska was placed in the North Division with the four other Midwest schools in the conference, plus Colorado, all of which were in the conference prior to 1996; the Oklahoma schools joined with the former SWC members (all of which were in Texas) to form the South Division.

Nebraska participated in the first Big 12 Championship Game by winning the North Division. They were upset by the unranked winners of the South Division, Texas. They still played in an Alliance bowl, the Orange Bowl, where they beat Virginia Tech.

Schedule

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DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 711:00 amMichigan State*No. 1ABCW 55–1475,590
September 219:15 pmat No. 17 Arizona State*No. 1FSNL 0–1974,089
September 2811:30 amColorado State*No. 8
  • Memorial Stadium
  • Lincoln, Nebraska
ABCW 65–975,575
October 511:30 amat No. 16 Kansas StateNo. 7ABCW 39–343,916
October 121:00 pmBaylor No. 5
  • Memorial Stadium
  • Lincoln, Nebraska
W 49–075,478
October 192:30 pmat Texas TechNo. 5ABCW 24–1051,344
October 266:00 pmKansasNo. 5
  • Memorial Stadium
  • Lincoln, Nebraska (rivalry)
FSNW 63–775,158
November 211:00 amat OklahomaNo. 5ABCW 73–2175,004
November 91:00 pmMissouriNo. 5
  • Memorial Stadium
  • Lincoln, Nebraska (rivalry)
W 51–775,133
November 161:00 pmat Iowa StateNo. 5W 49–1447,850
November 291:30 pmNo. 5 ColoradoNo. 4
  • Memorial Stadium
  • Lincoln, Nebraska (rivalry)
ABCW 17–1275,695
December 712:00 pmvs. TexasNo. 3ABCL 27–3763,109
December 317:00 pmvs. No. 10 Virginia Tech*No. 6CBSW 41–2151,212
  • *Non-conference game
  •  Homecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Central time

[1]

Rankings

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Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes
Week
PollPre12345678910111213141516Final
AP1 (50)1 (50)1 (49)1 (57)1 (58)87555555543 (1)66
Coaches1 (47)1 (51)1 (57)1 (58)7644555554366

Roster and coaching staff

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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
Pos. # Name Class
CB 48 Dave Alderman Sr
DT 90 Derek Allen Fr
DT 94 Luis Almanzar Fr
DB Josh Anderson Fr
RE 96 Travis Antholz Fr
WLB 40 Erick Arens Fr
SLB 81 Larry Arnold Sr
RE 87 Chris Bassett Jr
FS 24 Jason Benes Jr
RCB 17 Chad Blahak Sr
LB Blaine Boellstorff Fr
LCB 20 Michael Booker Sr
DB 21 Mike Brown Fr
DB 22 Ralph Brown Fr
MLB 47 Ben Buettenback Fr
RCB 2 Leslie Dennis Jr
ROV 20 George Dittrick Fr
DT 74 Brandon Drum So
DL Jason Dush Fr
WLB 43 Terrell Farley Sr
DB Eric Fischer Fr
MLB 56 Jay Foreman So
SLB 37 Russell Froehlich So
RCB 12 Mike Fullman Sr
RE 85 Sean Gard Jr
DL Bobby Gill Fr
DE George Guidry Fr
SLB 86 Trent Gumm So
DB Brad Hamik Fr
LB 44 Jon Hesse Sr
WLB 49 Quint Hogrefe So
WLB 53 Matt Hunting Jr
MLB 50 Julius Jackson Fr
RCB Tom Jeffrey Fr
DB Eric Johnson So
RE Dave Jones So
DE Loran Kaiser Fr
RE 57 Chad Kelsay So
WLB 43 Josh Kohl Fr
RE 80 Curt Lenners Jr
ROV 14 Gregg List Fr
WLB 35 Casey Macken So
ROV 21 Kalin Makaiwi So
RCB 2 Alex McClymont So
ROV 4 Octavious McFarlin Jr
FS 29 Greg McGraw Fr
DT 72 Tom Milius Fr
RE 83 Bryce Miller Sr
ROV 10 Mike Minter Sr
RE Brandon Mooberry Fr
RE John Murphy Fr
DT 97 Jeff Ogard Sr
SLB 37 Tony Ortiz Fr
DT 95 Jason Peter Jr
RCB 26 Jerome Peterson Fr
LB Carlos Polk Fr
DB Brandon Quindt Fr
CB Khari Reynolds Fr
ROV 39 Mike Roberts Sr
DL Laron Rooks Fr
RE 84 Mike Rucker So
RE 86 Eric Ryan Fr
DT 74 Scott Saltsman Sr
RE Matt Schwager Fr
RE 15 Kareem Sears Fr
SLB 46 Brian Shaw Fr
DL Scott Siebenborn Fr
FS 16 Eric Stokes Sr
WLB 91 Ryan Terwilliger Sr
DT 79 Ross Tessendorf So
LCB 27 Andy Thompson So
RE 92 Travis Toline So
RE 93 Jared Tomich Sr
DT 94 Larry Townsend Sr
DT 65 Theron Troxel Fr
LB Chad Tuttle Fr
LB Noland Urban Fr
DB Casey Vanderhoef Fr
FS 32 Eric Walther So
FS 3 Eric Warfield Jr
DT Steve Warren Fr
DB Troy Watchorn Fr
WLB 52 Keely Watson Jr
FS 25 Jeff Wells Fr
SLB 28 Jamel Williams Sr
DT 99 Jason Wiltz So
DL Terry Winston Fr
RE 98 Grant Wistrom Jr
RE 87 Brendan Zahl Jr
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
PK 35 Kris Brown So
P/PK 17 Dan Hadenfeldt Fr
P 19 Jesse Kosch Jr
P 23 Bill Lafleur So
PK Chace Long Fr
P 8 Brian Morro So
PK 13 Ted Retzlaff Jr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
  • Charlie McBride
       16th season as DC/DL coach
       20th year at Nebraska
       Alma mater: Colorado
  • Turner Gill
       5th season as QB coach
       5th year at Nebraska
       Alma mater: Nebraska
  • Craig Bohl
       2nd season as LB coach
       5th year at Nebraska
       Alma mater: Nebraska
  • Ron Brown
       10th season as WR/TE coach
       10th year at Nebraska
       Alma mater: Brown
  • Dan Young
       14th season as OL/K coach
       14th year at Nebraska
       Alma mater: Reed
  • Milt Tenopir
       23rd season as OL coach
       23rd year at Nebraska
       Alma mater: Sterling
  • Tony Samuel
       11th season as OLB coach
       11th year at Nebraska
       Alma mater: Nebraska
  • George Darlington
       DB coach
       24th year at Nebraska
       Alma mater: Rutgers
  • Frank Solich
       14th season as RB coach
       18th year at Nebraska
       Alma mater: Nebraska
  • Boyd Epley
       28th season as S&C coach
       28th year at Nebraska
       Alma mater: Nebraska

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  •   Injured
  •   Redshirt

Roster
Last update: January 17, 2011

1996 Depth chart

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Game summaries

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Michigan State

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Michigan State at Nebraska [box score]
1 234Total
Michigan State 0 077 14
Nebraska 7 20217 55

Arizona State

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Nebraska at Arizona State [box score]
1 234Total
Nebraska 0 000 0
Arizona State 9 802 19

Colorado State

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Colorado State at Nebraska [box score]
1 234Total
Colorado State 0 603 9
Nebraska 7 172021 65

Kansas State

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Nebraska at Kansas State [box score]
1 234Total
Nebraska 6 12147 39
Kansas State 0 300 3

Baylor

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Baylor at Nebraska [box score]
1 234Total
Baylor 0 000 0
Nebraska 7 21147 49

Texas Tech

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Nebraska at Texas Tech [box score]
1 234Total
Nebraska 7 377 24
Texas Tech 7 300 10

Kansas

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Kansas at Nebraska [box score]
1 234Total
Kansas 0 700 7
Nebraska 7 35147 63

Oklahoma

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Nebraska at Oklahoma [box score]
1 234Total
Nebraska 0 172828 73
Oklahoma 0 0021 21

Missouri

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Missouri at Nebraska [box score]
1 234Total
Missouri 0 007 7
Nebraska 7 16280 51

Iowa State

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Nebraska at Iowa State [box score]
1 234Total
Nebraska 20 8147 49
Iowa State 0 077 14

Colorado

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Colorado at Nebraska [box score]
1 234Total
Colorado 6 033 12
Nebraska 7 1000 17

Texas

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Nebraska vs Texas [box score]
1 234Total
Nebraska 7 1073 27
Texas 7 13314 37

Virginia Tech

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Virginia Tech vs Nebraska [box score]
1 234Total
Virginia Tech 7 770 21
Nebraska 0 171410 41

Rankings

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Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
Week
PollPre12345678910111213141516Final
AP111118755555554366
Coaches6

Awards

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[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

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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]

Name Team
Dan Alexander Tennessee Titans
Eric Anderson Amsterdam Admirals
Michael Booker Atlanta Falcons
Kris Brown Pittsburgh Steelers
Mike Brown Chicago Bears
Ralph Brown New York Giants
Chris Dishman Arizona Cardinals
Clint Finley Kansas City Chiefs
Jay Foreman Buffalo Bills
Ahman Green Seattle Seahawks
Jon Hesse Green Bay Packers
Russ Hochstein Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Sheldon Jackson Buffalo Bills
Vershan Jackson Kansas City Chiefs
Eric Johnson Oakland Raiders
Chad Kelsay Pittsburgh Steelers
Bill Lafleur Barcelona Dragons
Joel Makovicka Arizona Cardinals
Mike Minter Carolina Panthers
Tony Ortiz Scottish Claymores
Jason Peter Carolina Panthers
Carlos Polk San Diego Chargers
Mike Rucker Carolina Panthers
Eric Stokes Seattle Seahawks
Jared Tomich New Orleans Saints
Larry Townsend Berlin Thunder
Adam Treu Oakland Raiders
Eric Warfield Kansas City Chiefs
Steve Warren Green Bay Packers
Jamel Williams Washington Redskins
Jason Wiltz New York Jets
Grant Wistrom St. Louis Rams
Jon Zatechka Berlin Thunder

References

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  1. ^ "Football - 1996 Schedule/Results". University of Nebraska–Lincoln Athletics Department. Retrieved May 21, 2009.
  2. ^ 1996 Husker Honors
  3. ^ "All Time NFL Huskers". Archived from the original on August 15, 2009. Retrieved May 21, 2009.