American college football season
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 [ edit ] Date Time Opponent Rank Site TV Result Attendance September 7 12:00 p.m. Rice * No. 10 ESPN Plus W 70–793,479 September 21 12:30 p.m. Pittsburgh * No. 7 ESPN W 72–093,959 September 28 2:30 p.m. at No. 5 Notre Dame * No. 4 NBC W 29–1659,075 October 5 3:30 p.m. No. 4 Penn State No. 3 Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH (rivalry , College GameDay ) ABC W 38–794,241 October 12 3:30 p.m. Wisconsin No. 2 ABC W 17–1494,215 October 19 3:30 p.m. at Purdue No. 2 ABC W 42–1460,172 October 26 3:30 p.m. at No. 20 Iowa No. 2 ABC W 38–2670,397 November 2 12:30 p.m. Minnesota No. 2 ESPN2 W 45–093,588 November 9 12:30 p.m. at Illinois No. 2 ESPN W 48–054,412 November 16 3:30 p.m. at Indiana No. 2 ABC W 27–1749,271 November 23 12:00 p.m. No. 21 Michigan No. 2 ABC L 9–1394,676 January 1, 1997 4:30 p.m. vs. No. 2 Arizona State * No. 4 ABC W 20–17100,635 *Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time
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Game summaries [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Rice 0 7 0 0 7 • Ohio St 21 21 21 7 70
Date: September 7Location: Ohio Stadium Game attendance: 93,479Television network: ESPN+ Scoring summary 1 OHST Lumpkin 2 yard pass from S Jackson (Jo Jackson kick) Ohio St 7–0 1 OHST Pearson 8 yard run (Jo Jackson kick) Ohio St 14–0 1 OHST Pearson 22 yard run (Jo Jackson kick) Ohio St 21–0 2 OHST Stanley 15 yard pass from Germaine (Jo Jackson kick) Ohio St 28–0 2 RICE Perry 5 yard run (Ruff kick) Ohio St 28–7 2 OHST Boston 58 yard pass from S Jackson (Jo Jackson kick) Ohio St 35–7 2 OHST Wiley 49 yard run (Jo Jackson kick) Ohio St 42–7 3 OHST Pearson 25 yard run (Jo Jackson kick) Ohio St 49–7 3 OHST Wiley 51 yard pass from Germaine (Jo Jackson kick) Ohio St 56–7 3 OHST Wiley 60 yard pass from Germaine (Stamp kick) Ohio St 63–7 4 OHST Je Jackson 3 yard run (Stamp kick) Ohio St 70–7
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Pittsburgh [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Pittsburgh 0 0 0 0 0 • Ohio St 21 31 13 7 72
Notre Dame [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total • Ohio St 12 10 7 0 29 Notre Dame 7 0 3 6 16
Penn State [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Penn St 0 0 0 7 7 • Ohio St 10 14 7 7 38
Wisconsin [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Wisconsin 0 7 0 7 14 • Ohio St 0 3 7 7 17
1 2 3 4 Total • Ohio St 7 7 14 14 42 Purdue 14 0 0 0 14
1 2 3 4 Total • Ohio St 17 14 7 0 38 Iowa 3 3 6 14 26
Minnesota [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Minnesota 0 0 0 0 0 • Ohio St 0 10 21 14 45
Illinois [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total • Ohio St 0 28 20 0 48 Illinois 0 0 0 0 0
Indiana [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total • Ohio St 0 7 0 20 27 Indiana 0 3 7 7 17
Michigan [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total • Michigan 0 0 10 3 13 Ohio St 3 6 0 0 9
Rose Bowl [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total • Ohio St 7 0 7 6 20 Arizona St 0 7 3 7 17
Rankings [ edit ] Ranking movementsLegend: ██ 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 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)
1996 Ohio State Buckeyes football team roster Players Coaches Offense Defense Special teams Head coach Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster
Coaching staff [ edit ] 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 Strobart - Wide Receivers (2nd year) Jon Tenuta - Defensive Backs (1st year) Depth chart [ edit ] Defense
FS 34 Rob Kelly 26 Anthony Gwinn
Offense
FL 3 Dimitrious Stanley 15 Dee Miller
Key reserves 23 Matt Keller (FB)
FB 37 Nicky Sualua 39 Matt Calhoun
RB 29 Pepe Pearson 25 Jermon Jackson
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Awards and honors [ edit ] [4]
References [ edit ]
Venues Bowls & rivalries Culture & lore Media People Seasons National championship seasons in bold
Western Conference Big Ten Big Nine Big Ten National championships in bold