# 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 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 StadiumLincoln, Nebraska | ABC | W 55–14 | 75,590 |
| September 21 | 9:15 pm | at No. 17 Arizona State* | No. 1 | Sun Devil StadiumTempe, Arizona | FSN | L 0–19 | 74,089 |
| September 28 | 11:30 am | Colorado State* | No. 8 | Memorial StadiumLincoln, Nebraska | ABC | W 65–9 | 75,575 |
| October 5 | 11:30 am | at No. 16 Kansas State | No. 7 | KSU StadiumManhattan, Kansas (rivalry) | ABC | W 39–3 | 43,916 |
| October 12 | 1:00 pm | Baylor | No. 5 | Memorial StadiumLincoln, Nebraska | | W 49–0 | 75,478 |
| October 19 | 2:30 pm | at Texas Tech | No. 5 | Jones StadiumLubbock, Texas | ABC | W 24–10 | 51,344 |
| October 26 | 6:00 pm | Kansas | No. 5 | Memorial StadiumLincoln, Nebraska (rivalry) | FSN | W 63–7 | 75,158 |
| November 2 | 11:00 am | at Oklahoma | No. 5 | Oklahoma Memorial StadiumNorman, Oklahoma (rivalry) | ABC | W 73–21 | 75,004 |
| November 9 | 1:00 pm | Missouri | No. 5 | Memorial StadiumLincoln, Nebraska (rivalry) | | W 51–7 | 75,133 |
| November 16 | 1:00 pm | at Iowa State | No. 5 | Cyclone StadiumAmes, Iowa | | W 49–14 | 47,850 |
| November 29 | 1:30 pm | No. 5 Colorado | No. 4 | Memorial StadiumLincoln, Nebraska (rivalry) | ABC | W 17–12 | 75,695 |
| December 7 | 12:00 pm | vs. Texas | No. 3 | Trans World DomeSt. 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 StadiumMiami Gardens, Florida (Orange Bowl) | CBS | W 41–21 | 51,212 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from AP Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Central 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 | 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 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

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

### Arizona State

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

### Colorado State

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

### Kansas State

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

### Baylor

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

### Texas Tech

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

### Kansas

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

### Oklahoma

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

### Missouri

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

### Iowa State

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

### Colorado

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

### Texas

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

### Virginia Tech

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

## 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 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 6 |
| Coaches | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 6 |

## Awards

| 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.
| 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 |