# 1996 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

The 1996 Ohio State Buckeyes football team represented the Ohio State University in the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team's head coach was John Cooper. The Buckeyes played their home games in Ohio Stadium. The team finished the season with a win–loss record of 11–1, and a Big Ten Conference record of 7–1. They were co-champions of Big Ten Conference with the Northwestern Wildcats and played in the 1997 Rose Bowl against Pacific-10 Conference champion the Arizona State Sun Devils. Ohio State did not play Northwestern during the regular season and were selected to play in the Rose Bowl due to their better overall record of 10–1 (the Wildcats were 9–2). Northwestern had played in the previous Rose Bowl.
The Buckeyes used two quarterbacks throughout the year, junior Stanley Jackson, and sophomore Joe Germaine, the Buckeyes were dominant throughout the majority of the season, outscoring their opponents by a score of 455–131. The Buckeyes only loss came late in the season to their rivals, the Michigan Wolverines, by a score of 13–9.
Because of the late loss, Ohio State fell from second to fourth in the polls. Due to the Big Ten and Pac-10 not being involved in the Bowl Alliance agreement as the two champions were contractually obligated to play in the Rose Bowl, Ohio State was set to play #2 Arizona State, while #1 Florida State and #3 Florida played for the national championship in the 1997 Sugar Bowl.
Ohio State went into the 1997 Rose Bowl with high hopes and Germaine came off the bench and threw a late touchdown pass to David Boston to steal a come-from-behind victory. With the Buckeyes dramatic upset victory over the Sun Devils, Buckeye fans hoped for a share of the national title. However, Florida would later avenge a late season loss to their rivals, and beat the Seminoles by a score of 52–20. Florida finished first and Ohio State second in both polls, followed by Florida State and Arizona State.
The Rose Bowl appearance was the Buckeyes first since 1985. The Rose Bowl victory was the sixth in school history, the first since 1974. Germaine was named Rose Bowl MVP.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 7 | 12:00 p.m. | Rice* | No. 10 | Ohio StadiumColumbus, OH | ESPN Plus | W 70–7 | 93,479 |
| September 21 | 12:30 p.m. | Pittsburgh* | No. 7 | Ohio StadiumColumbus, OH | ESPN | W 72–0 | 93,959 |
| September 28 | 2:30 p.m. | at No. 5 Notre Dame* | No. 4 | Notre Dame StadiumNotre Dame, IN (College GameDay) | NBC | W 29–16 | 59,075 |
| October 5 | 3:30 p.m. | No. 4 Penn State | No. 3 | Ohio StadiumColumbus, OH (rivalry, College GameDay) | ABC | W 38–7 | 94,241 |
| October 12 | 3:30 p.m. | Wisconsin | No. 2 | Ohio StadiumColumbus, OH | ABC | W 17–14 | 94,215 |
| October 19 | 3:30 p.m. | at Purdue | No. 2 | Ross–Ade StadiumWest Lafayette, IN | ABC | W 42–14 | 60,172 |
| October 26 | 3:30 p.m. | at No. 20 Iowa | No. 2 | Kinnick StadiumIowa City, IA (College GameDay) | ABC | W 38–26 | 70,397 |
| November 2 | 12:30 p.m. | Minnesota | No. 2 | Ohio StadiumColumbus, OH | ESPN2 | W 45–0 | 93,588 |
| November 9 | 12:30 p.m. | at Illinois | No. 2 | Memorial StadiumChampaign, IL | ESPN | W 48–0 | 54,412 |
| November 16 | 3:30 p.m. | at Indiana | No. 2 | Memorial StadiumBloomington, IN | ABC | W 27–17 | 49,271 |
| November 23 | 12:00 p.m. | No. 21 Michigan | No. 2 | Ohio StadiumColumbus, OH (rivalry) | ABC | L 9–13 | 94,676 |
| January 1, 1997 | 4:30 p.m. | vs. No. 2 Arizona State* | No. 4 | Rose BowlPasadena, CA (Rose Bowl) | ABC | W 20–17 | 100,635 |
| *Non-conference gameRankings from AP Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Eastern time ||||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking ( ) = First-place votes :
| | 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 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 3 (1) | 2 (24) | 2 (7) | 2 (4) | 2 (4) | 2 (5) | 2 (17) | 2 (7) | 6 | 5 | 4 | 2 (1½) |
| Coaches Poll | 10 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 4 (2) | 3 (5) | 2 (20) | 3 (2) | 3 (1) | 3 (4) | 3 (4) | 2 (16) | 2 (9) | 6 | 5 | 4 | 2 (4) |

## Game summaries
### Rice

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Rice | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| • Ohio St | 21 | 21 | 21 | 7 | 70 |

### Pittsburgh

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Pittsburgh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| • Ohio St | 21 | 31 | 13 | 7 | 72 |

### Notre Dame

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Ohio St | 12 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 29 |
| Notre Dame | 7 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 16 |

### Penn State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Penn St | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| • Ohio St | 10 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 38 |

### Wisconsin

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Wisconsin | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 14 |
| • Ohio St | 0 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 17 |

### Purdue

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Ohio St | 7 | 7 | 14 | 14 | 42 |
| Purdue | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 |

### Iowa

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Ohio St | 17 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 38 |
| Iowa | 3 | 3 | 6 | 14 | 26 |

### Minnesota

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| • Ohio St | 0 | 10 | 21 | 14 | 45 |

### Illinois

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Ohio St | 0 | 28 | 20 | 0 | 48 |
| Illinois | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Indiana

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Ohio St | 0 | 7 | 0 | 20 | 27 |
| Indiana | 0 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 17 |

### Michigan

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Michigan | 0 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 13 |
| Ohio St | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 9 |

### Rose Bowl

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Ohio St | 7 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 20 |
| Arizona St | 0 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 17 |

## Personnel
### Coaching staff

* John Cooper, head coach (9th year)
* Bill Conley, defensive ends, recruiting coordinator (10th year)
* Walt Harris, quarterbacks (2nd year)
* Jim Heacock, defensive line (1st year)
* Joe Hollis, offensive coordinator (6th year)
* Mike Jacobs, offensive line (2nd year)
* Fred Pagac, defensive coordinator, linebackers (15th year)
* Tim Spencer, running backs (3rd year)
* Chuck Stobart, wide receivers (2nd year)
* Jon Tenuta, defensive backs (1st year)

### Depth chart

Defense :
* FS
* 34 Rob Kelly
* 26 Anthony Gwinn
| WLB | MLB | SLB |
| 43 Ryan Miller | 45 Andy Katzenmoyer | 30 Greg Bellisari |
| 35 Jerry Rudzinski | 51 Roedell Dupree | 52 Kevin Johnson |
* SS
* 13 Damon Moore
* 18 Che Bryant
* CB
* 2 Ty Howard
| DE | DT | DT | DE |
| 94 Mike Vrabel | 99 Luke Fickell | 68 Winfield Garnett | 92 Matt Finkes |
| ⋅ | 62 Shane Clark | 97 John Day | ⋅ |
* CB
* 24 Shawn Springs
* 11 Antoine Winfield
Offense :
* SE
* 9 David Boston
* 12 Buster Tillman
| LT | LG | C | RG | RT |
| 75 Orlando Pace | 56 Rob Murphy | 65 Juan Porter | 57 LeShun Daniels | 50 Eric Gohlstin |
* TE
* 85 John Lumpkin
* FL
* 3 Dimitrious Stanley
* 15 Dee Miller
* QB
* 8 Stanley Jackson
* 7 Joe Germaine
* Key reserves
* 23 Matt Keller (FB)
* FB
* 37 Nicky Sualua
* 39 Matt Calhoun
* Special teams
* PK 4 Josh Jackson
* P 41 Brent Bartholomew
* RB
* 29 Pepe Pearson
* 25 Jermon Jackson

## Awards and honors

* Andy Katzenmoyer, Big Ten Freshman of the Year

## 1997 NFL draftees

| Player | Round | Pick | Position | NFL club |
| Orlando Pace | 1 | 1 | Tackle | St. Louis Rams |
| Shawn Springs | 1 | 3 | Defensive back | Seattle Seahawks |
| Rob Kelly | 2 | 33 | Defensive back | New Orleans Saints |
| Ty Howard | 3 | 84 | Defensive back | Arizona Cardinals |
| Mike Vrabel | 3 | 91 | Defensive end | Pittsburgh Steelers |
| Nicky Sualua | 4 | 129 | Running back | Dallas Cowboys |
| Matt Finkes | 6 | 189 | Defensive end | Carolina Panthers |
Source: