# 1996 Miami Hurricanes football team

The 1996 Miami Hurricanes football team represented the University of Miami during the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. It was the Hurricanes' 71st season of football and sixth as a member of the Big East Conference. The Hurricanes were led by second-year head coach Butch Davis and played their home games at the Orange Bowl. They finished the season 9–3 overall and 6–1 in the Big East to finish as conference co-champion. They were invited to the Carquest Bowl where they defeated Virginia, 31–21.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| August 31 | 1:30 pm | at Memphis* | No. 11 | Liberty Bowl Memorial StadiumMemphis, TN | SUN | W 30–7 | 32,096 |
| September 7 | 4:00 pm | The Citadel* | No. 11 | Miami Orange BowlMiami, FL | | W 52–6 | 35,747 |
| September 12 | 8:00 pm | at Rutgers | No. 10 | Rutgers StadiumPiscataway, NJ | ESPN | W 33–0 | 29,379 |
| September 28 | 12:00 pm | Pittsburgh | No. 10 | Miami Orange BowlMiami, FL | ESPN Plus | W 45–0 | 32,747 |
| October 12 | 3:30 pm | No. 3 Florida State* | No. 6 | Miami Orange BowlMiami, FL (rivalry) | CBS | L 16–34 | 75,913 |
| October 19 | 7:00 pm | East Carolina* | No. 12 | Miami Orange BowlMiami, FL | ESPN | L 6–31 | 31,909 |
| October 26 | 7:00 pm | at No. 12 West Virginia | No. 25 | Mountaineer FieldMorgantown, WV | ESPN | W 10–7 | 66,948 |
| November 2 | 12:00 pm | at Temple | No. 22 | Veterans StadiumPhiladelphia, PA | ESPN Plus | W 57–26 | 8,608 |
| November 16 | 3:30 pm | No. 21 Virginia Tech | No. 18 | Miami Orange BowlMiami, FL (rivalry) | CBS | L 7–21 | 38,814 |
| November 23 | 12:00 pm | Boston College | No. 25 | Miami Orange BowlMiami, FL | CBS | W 43–26 | 34,540 |
| November 30 | 3:30 pm | at No. 16 Syracuse | No. 23 | Carrier DomeSyracuse, NY | CBS | W 38–31 | 49,426 |
| December 27 | 7:30 pm | vs. Virginia* | No. 19 | Pro Player StadiumMiami, FL (Carquest Bowl) | TBS | W 31–21 | 46,418 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from AP Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Eastern time |||||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Final |
| AP | 12 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 25 | 22 | 21 | 18 | 25 | 23 | 19 | 19 | 14 |
| Coaches | 16 | | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 13 | 23 | 22 | 21 | 18 | 25 | 23 | 20 | 19 | 14 |

## Personnel
### Coaching staff

| Name | Position | Seasons | Alma mater |
| Butch Davis | Head coach | 2nd | Arkansas (1973) |
| Larry Coker | Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks | 2nd | Northeastern State (OK) (1970) |
| Bill Miller | Defensive coordinator | 2nd | Texas-Arlington (1978) |
| Rob Chudzinski | Tight ends | 1st | Miami (1990) |
| Chuck Pagano | Defensive backs | 2nd | Wyoming (1984) |
| Greg Mark | Defensive line | 1st | Miami (1991) |
| Art Kehoe | offensive line | 12th | Miami (1982) |
| Don Soldinger | Running backs | 7th | Memphis (1967) |
| Randy Shannon | Linebackers | 5th | Miami (1989) |
| Curtis Johnson | Wide receivers | 1st | Idaho (1985) |

### Support staff

| Name | Position | Seasons | Alma mater |
| Dale Hulett | Strength & Conditioning | 2nd | SUNY-Cortland (1978) |
| Bobby Harden | Graduate Assistant | 1st | Miami (1989) |
| Howie DeCristofaro | Graduate Assistant | 1st | Florida (1980) |

### Roster
## Statistics
### Passing

| Player | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yards | TD | INT |
| Ryan Clement | 164 | 272 | 60.3 | 2,257 | 19 | 8 |
| Scott Covington | 73 | 125 | 58.4 | 919 | 4 | 4 |

### Rushing

| Player | Att | Yards | Avg | TD |
| Dyral McMillan | 111 | 565 | 5.1 | 4 |
| Danyell Ferguson | 81 | 385 | 4.4 | 3 |
| Trent Jones | 86 | 374 | 4.3 | 5 |
| Edgerrin James | 71 | 446 | 6.3 | 2 |
| Ryan Clement | 36 | -142 | -3.9 | 1 |
| Nick Williams | 17 | 67 | 3.9 | 1 |
| Scott Covington | 13 | -30 | -2.3 | 1 |
| Carlo Joseph | 12 | 47 | 3.9 | 1 |
| James Jackson | 8 | 22 | 2.8 | 0 |
| Magic Benton | 1 | 22 | 22.0 | 0 |
| Bryan Bippen | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 0 |
| Tony Gaiter | 1 | -1 | -1.0 | 0 |

### Receiving

| Player | Rec | Yards | Avg | TD |
| Yatil Green | 44 | 746 | 17.0 | 4 |
| Magic Benton | 38 | 574 | 14.4 | 4 |
| Tony Gaiter | 30 | 671 | 22.4 | 7 |
| Gerard Daphnis | 19 | 173 | 9.1 | 0 |
| Trent Jones | 17 | 94 | 5.5 | 0 |
| Jermaine Chambers | 14 | 188 | 13.4 | 1 |
| Nick Williams | 12 | 149 | 12.4 | 1 |
| Chris C. Jones | 12 | 159 | 13.3 | 4 |
| Mondriel Fulcher | 12 | 149 | 12.4 | 2 |
| Danyell Ferguson | 11 | 52 | 4.7 | 0 |
| Carlo Joseph | 11 | 87 | 7.9 | 0 |
| Dyral McMillan | 8 | 44 | 5.5 | 0 |
| Edgerrin James | 6 | 90 | 15.0 | 0 |
| James Jackson | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 0 |
| Andy Atrio | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 0 |
| Jeff Popovich | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 0 |