1996 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

1996 Nebraska Cornhuskers football
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
	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 →

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 Big 12 Conference football standings
v t e
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

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 7	11:00 am	Michigan State*	No. 1	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, Nebraska	ABC	W 55–14	75,590
September 21	9:15 pm	at No. 17 Arizona State*	No. 1	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, Arizona	FSN	L 0–19	74,089
September 28	11:30 am	Colorado State*	No. 8	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, Nebraska	ABC	W 65–9	75,575
October 5	11:30 am	at No. 16 Kansas State	No. 7	KSU Stadium Manhattan, Kansas (rivalry)	ABC	W 39–3	43,916
October 12	1:00 pm	Baylor	No. 5	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, Nebraska		W 49–0	75,478
October 19	2:30 pm	at Texas Tech	No. 5	Jones Stadium Lubbock, Texas	ABC	W 24–10	51,344
October 26	6:00 pm	Kansas	No. 5	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, Nebraska (rivalry)	FSN	W 63–7	75,158
November 2	11:00 am	at Oklahoma	No. 5	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, Oklahoma (rivalry)	ABC	W 73–21	75,004
November 9	1:00 pm	Missouri	No. 5	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, Nebraska (rivalry)		W 51–7	75,133
November 16	1:00 pm	at Iowa State	No. 5	Cyclone Stadium Ames, Iowa		W 49–14	47,850
November 29	1:30 pm	No. 5 Colorado	No. 4	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, Nebraska (rivalry)	ABC	W 17–12	75,695
December 7	12:00 pm	vs. Texas	No. 3	Trans World Dome St. Louis, Missouri (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, Florida (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

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

Roster and coaching staff

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: Nebraska

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

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]

	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]

	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]

	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]

	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]

	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]

	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]

	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]

	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]

	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]

	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]

	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]

	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]

	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

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

References

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

[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.

[1]

[2]

[3]

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 →