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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
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 Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH (
rivalry ) 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
[1]
Game summaries
Rice
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
[2]
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
Rankings
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)
Roster
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
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
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
Q
[3]
Awards and honors
[4]
References
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