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. This was the first season for Nebraska in the Big 12 Conference, which took on that name after their previous conference, the Big Eight Conference? added four schools from the disbanded Southwest Conference. Nebraska was placed in the new conference’s North Division along with Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, and Colorado.

1996 Nebraska Cornhuskers football
Big 12 North Division champion Orange Bowl champion
Big 12 Championship Game, L 27–37 vs. Texas
Orange Bowl, W 41–21 vs. Virginia Tech
Conference	Big 12 Conference
Division	North Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 6
AP	No. 6
Record	11–2 (8–0 Big 12)
Head coach	Tom Osborne (24th season)
Offensive scheme	I formation
Defensive coordinator	Charlie McBride (16th season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
Seasons ← 1995 1997 →

1996 Big 12 Conference football standings

v t e	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

The Cornhuskers entered the season as the two-time defending national champions, having won the first Bowl Alliance championship game at the Fiesta 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 the 1994 Orange Bowl.

Nebraska opened the season with a rout of Michigan State in their home opener and traveled to face Arizona 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 first Big 12 Championship Game against the winner of the South Division, unranked Texas. 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 the Orange Bowl, where they beat Virginia Tech.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 7	11:00 am	Michigan State*	No. 1	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	ABC	W 55–14	75,590
September 21	9:15 pm	at No. 17 Arizona State*	No. 1	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ	FSN	L 0–19	74,089
September 28	11:30 am	Colorado State*	No. 8	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	ABC	W 65–9	75,575
October 5	11:30 am	at No. 16 Kansas State	No. 7	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS (rivalry)	ABC	W 39–3	43,916
October 12	1:00 pm	Baylor	No. 5	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE		W 49–0	75,478
October 19	2:30 pm	at Texas Tech	No. 5	Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX	ABC	W 24–10	51,344
October 26	6:00 pm	Kansas	No. 5	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry)	FSN	W 63–7	75,158
November 2	11:00 am	at Oklahoma	No. 5	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK (rivalry)	ABC	W 73–21	75,004
November 9	1:00 pm	Missouri	No. 5	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry)		W 51–7	75,133
November 16	1:00 pm	at Iowa State	No. 5	Cyclone Stadium Ames, IA (rivalry)		W 49–14	47,850
November 29	1:30 pm	No. 5 Colorado	No. 4	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry)	ABC	W 17–12	75,695
December 7	12:00 pm	vs. Texas	No. 3	Trans World Dome St. Louis, MO (Big 12 Championship Game)	ABC	L 27–37	63,109
December 31	7:00 pm	vs. No. 10 Virginia Tech*	No. 6	Pro Player Stadium Miami Gardens, FL (Orange Bowl)	CBS	W 41–21	51,212
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^[1]

Rankings

See also: 1996 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes

	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

Personnel

Roster

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 Tom Osborne    24th season    33rd year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Hastings College 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

Depth chart

Defense FS Eric Stokes Eric Warfield Eric Walther WILL MIKE SAM Terrell Farley Ryan Terwilliger John Hesse Jamel Williams Mike Minter Octavious McFarlin 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 Jeff Lake ⋅ QB Scott Frost Matt Turman Monte Christo RB Ahman Green DeAngelo Evans Damon Benning James Sims FB Brian Schuster Joel Makovicka Billy Legate Special teams PK Kris Brown P Jesse Kosch

Game summaries

Michigan State

Michigan State at Nebraska [box score]

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Michigan State	0	0	7	7	14
• Nebraska	7	20	21	7	55

• Date: September 7
• Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska
• Game attendance: 75,590

Arizona State

Nebraska at Arizona State [box score]

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Nebraska	0	0	0	0	0
• Arizona State	9	8	0	2	19

• Date: September 21
• Location: Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona
• Game attendance: 74,089

Colorado State

Colorado State at Nebraska [box score]

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Colorado State	0	6	0	3	9
• Nebraska	7	17	20	21	65

• Date: September 28
• Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska
• Game attendance: 75,575

Kansas State

Nebraska at Kansas State [box score]

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Nebraska	6	12	14	7	39
Kansas State	0	3	0	0	3

• Date: October 5
• Location: KSU Stadium, Manhattan, Kansas
• Game attendance: 43,916

Baylor

Baylor at Nebraska [box score]

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Baylor	0	0	0	0	0
• Nebraska	7	21	14	7	49

• Date: October 12
• Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska
• Game attendance: 75,478

Texas Tech

Nebraska at Texas Tech [box score]

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Nebraska	7	3	7	7	24
Texas Tech	7	3	0	0	10

• Date: October 19
• Location: Clifford B. and Audrey Jones Stadium, Lubbock, Texas
• Game attendance: 51,344

Kansas

Kansas at Nebraska [box score]

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Kansas	0	7	0	0	7
• Nebraska	7	35	14	7	63

• Date: October 26
• Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska
• Game attendance: 75,158

Oklahoma

Nebraska at Oklahoma [box score]

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Nebraska	0	17	28	28	73
Oklahoma	0	0	0	21	21

• Date: November 2
• Location: Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, Norman, Oklahoma
• Game attendance: 75,004

Missouri

Missouri at Nebraska [box score]

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Missouri	0	0	0	7	7
• Nebraska	7	16	28	0	51

• Date: November 9
• Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska
• Game attendance: 75,133

Iowa State

Nebraska at Iowa State [box score]

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Nebraska	20	8	14	7	49
Iowa State	0	0	7	7	14

• Date: November 16
• Location: Cyclone Stadium, Ames, Iowa
• Game attendance: 47,850

Colorado

Colorado at Nebraska [box score]

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Colorado	6	0	3	3	12
• Nebraska	7	10	0	0	17

• Date: November 29
• Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska
• Game attendance: 75,695

Texas

Nebraska vs Texas [box score]

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Nebraska	7	10	7	3	27
• Texas	7	13	3	14	37

• Date: December 7
• Location: Trans World Dome, St. Louis, Missouri
• Game attendance: 63,109

Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech vs Nebraska [box score]

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Virginia Tech	7	7	7	0	21
• Nebraska	0	17	14	10	41

• Date: December 31
• Location: Pro Player Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida
• Game attendance: 51,212

Rankings

See also: 1996 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ 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

Awards

^[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

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