1996 NAIA Division II football season

American college football season

1996 NAIA Division II football season
Regular season	August–November 1996
Postseason	November–December 1996
National Championship	Jim Carroll Stadium Savannah, Tennessee
Champions	Sioux Falls
←1995 NAIA Division II football season 1997→

The 1996 NAIA Division II football season, as part of the 1996 college football season in the United States and the 41st season of college football sponsored by the NAIA, was the 27th (and final) season of play of the NAIA division II for football.

The season was played from August to November 1996 and culminated in the 1996 NAIA Division II Football National Championship, played at Jim Carroll Stadium in Savannah, Tennessee.

Sioux Falls defeated Western Washington in the championship game, 47–25, to win their first NAIA national title.

Conference changes

This is the final season the NAIA officially recognizes a football champion from the Northwest Conference. The NWC, and its six members from Oregon and Washington, would subsequently join the NCAA as a Division III conference.
The South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference was renamed as the South Dakota-Iowa Intercollegiate Conference after the addition of two football programs from Iowa, Westmar University and Dordt College. This was the first time since the founding of the SDIC in 1917 that it admitted members outside of South Dakota.

Membership changes

Team	1995 conference	1996 conference
Lewis & Clark	Columbia (Mount Hood)	Northwest
Linfield	Columbia (Mount Hood)	Northwest
Pacific Lutheran	Columbia (Mount Hood)	Northwest
Puget Sound	Columbia (Mount Hood)	Northwest
Willamette	Columbia (Mount Hood)	Northwest
Whitworth	Columbia (Mount Hood)	Northwest

Conference standings

1996 American Southwest Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 11 Hardin–Simmons +^	3	–	1	8	–	2
Sul Ross +	3	–	1	6	–	4
No. 19 Howard Payne	2	–	2	8	–	2
Austin	1	–	3	3	–	7
McMurry	1	–	3	3	–	7
Mississippi College *	0	–	0	4	–	6

+ – Conference co-champions ^ – NAIA Division II playoff participant * – Ineligible for conference title Rankings from NAIA Division II poll

1996 Columbia Football Association standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 6 Western Washington $^	4	–	1	11	–	2
Simon Fraser	3	–	2	6	–	4
Central Washington	3	–	2	5	–	5
Eastern Oregon	2	–	3	6	–	4
Western Oregon	2	–	3	3	–	7
Southern Oregon	1	–	4	4	–	6

$ – Conference champion ^ – NAIA Division II playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Division II poll

1996 Heart of America Athletic Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 5 Evangel $^	9	–	0	10	–	1
No. 15 Benedictine (KS) ^	7	–	2	8	–	3
No. T–24 Graceland	7	–	2	7	–	3
No. 22 Baker	7	–	2	7	–	4
Culver–Stockton	4	–	5	5	–	5
MidAmerica Nazarene	4	–	5	5	–	5
Lindenwood	3	–	6	4	–	6
William Jewell	2	–	7	3	–	7
Central Methodist	1	–	8	2	–	8
Missouri Valley	1	–	8	1	–	9

$ – Conference champion ^ – NAIA Division II playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Division II poll

1996 Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 8 Bethany (KS) $^	8	–	0	8	–	2
Bethel (KS)	7	–	1	7	–	3
No. 23 Southwestern (KS)	6	–	2	7	–	3
Friends	5	–	3	5	–	5
McPherson	4	–	4	5	–	5
Kansas Wesleyan	3	–	5	3	–	7
Sterling	2	–	6	2	–	8
Ottawa	1	–	7	1	–	8
Tabor	0	–	8	0	–	10

$ – Conference champion ^ – NAIA Division II playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Division II poll

1996 Mid-South Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 3 Lambuth $^	7	–	0	9	–	2
No. 18 Cumberland (TN)	6	–	1	8	–	2
Campbellsville	4	–	3	6	–	4
North Greenville	3	–	4	6	–	4
Georgetown (KY)	3	–	4	4	–	5
Union (KY)	3	–	4	4	–	6
Cumberland (KY)	1	–	6	2	–	7
Bethel (TN)	1	–	6	2	–	9

$ – Conference champion ^ – NAIA playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Division II poll

1996 Mid-States Football Association standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
Mideast League
No. 13 Malone x	5	–	1	8	–	2
No. 9 Westminster (PA) x^	5	–	1	9	–	3
No. 10 Geneva x^	5	–	1	7	–	3
Walsh	3	–	3	6	–	5
Tiffin	2	–	4	2	–	8
Tri-State	1	–	5	4	–	6
Urbana	0	–	6	1	–	9
Midwest League
No. 1 Findlay x^	6	–	0	12	–	1
No. 17 St. Ambrose	5	–	1	9	–	1
Olivet Nazarene	3	–	3	6	–	4
Iowa Wesleyan	3	–	3	5	–	6
Trinity International	3	–	3	3	–	7
Saint Xavier	1	–	5	2	–	8
Taylor	0	–	6	1	–	9

x – League champion/co-champions ^ – NAIA playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Division II poll

1996 Nebraska-Iowa Athletic Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 12 Northwestern (IA) $^	5	–	1	10	–	2
Doane	4	–	2	6	–	3
Hastings	4	–	2	6	–	4
Midland	4	–	2	5	–	5
Dana	3	–	3	4	–	5
Nebraska Wesleyan	1	–	5	2	–	8
Concordia (NE)	0	–	6	2	–	7

$ – Conference champion ^ – NAIA Division II playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Division II poll

1996 North Dakota College Athletic Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 16 Valley City State +^	5	–	1	9	–	2
No. 20 Mary +^	5	–	1	7	–	4
Minot State	4	–	2	6	–	3
Minnesota–Crookston	3	–	3	6	–	4
Dickinson State	3	–	3	5	–	4
Jamestown	1	–	5	1	–	8
Mayville State	0	–	6	2	–	8

+ – Conference co-champions ^ – NAIA Division II playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Division II poll

1996 Northwest Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 7 Willamette $^	5	–	0	9	–	2
No. 15 Pacific Lutheran ^	4	–	1	7	–	3
Linfield	3	–	2	5	–	4
Lewis & Clark	2	–	3	4	–	6
Whitworth	1	–	4	1	–	8
Puget Sound	0	–	5	0	–	9

$ – Conference champion ^ – NAIA Division II playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Division II poll

1996 South Dakota-Iowa Intercollegiate Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 2 Sioux Falls $^	6	–	0	14	–	0
Westmar	5	–	1	7	–	3
Dakota Wesleyan	3	–	3	5	–	5
Black Hills State	3	–	3	4	–	6
Huron	2	–	4	5	–	5
Dakota State	1	–	5	2	–	7
South Dakota Tech	1	–	5	1	–	9

$ – Conference champion ^ – NAIA Division II playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Division II poll

1996 NAIA Division II independents football records
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 4 Clinch Valley ^		–		10	–	1
No. 21 Azusa Pacific		–		7	–	3
No. T–24 Peru State		–		7	–	3
McKendree		–		3	–	5
Sue Bennett		–		0	–	11

^ – NAIA Division II playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Division II poll

Conference champions

Conference	Champion	Record
Columbia	Western Washington	4–1
Heart of America	Evangel	9–0
Kansas	Bethany	8–0
Mid-South	Lambuth	7–0
Mid-States	Mideast Division: Geneva, Malone, and Westminster (PA) Midwest Division: Findlay	5–1 6–0
Nebraska-Iowa	Northwestern (IA)	5–1
North Dakota	Valley City State Mary	5–1
Northwest	Willamette	5–0
South Dakota-Iowa	Sioux Falls	6–0

Postseason

1996 Division II NAIA Football Championship

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Total
Western Washington	6	7	0	12	25
Sioux Falls (SD)	7	20	14	6	47

Date

December 21, 1996

Stadium

Jim Carroll Stadium

City

Savannah, Tennessee

MOP (Offense)

Kurtis Riggs, Sioux Falls

MOP (Defense)

Travis Dumke, Sioux Falls

Attendance

4,000

NAIA Football National Championship
< 1995	1997 >

The 1996 NAIA Division II Football Championship Series concluded on December 21, 1996, with the championship game played at Jim Carroll Stadium in Savannah, Tennessee. The game was won by the Sioux Falls Cougars over the Western Washington Vikings by a score of 47–25.

Bracket

1st Round		Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Championship

Bethany (KS)	35

Willamette	56
		Willamette	12

		Western Washington	13
Pacific Lutheran	20

Western Washington	21*
				Western Washington	28

				Findlay	21
Westminster (PA)	27

Clinch Valley	20
		Westminster (PA)	9

		Findlay (OH)	28
Geneva	13

Findlay	38
						Western Washington	25

						Sioux Falls	47
Valley City State	7

Northwestern (IA)	14
		Sioux Falls	52

		Northwestern (IA)	21
Sioux Falls	56

Mary	19
				Sioux Falls	28

				Evangel	21
Hardin–Simmons	23

Evangel	45
		Evangel	28

		Lambuth	27
Benedictine (KS)	20

Lambuth	34

* denotes OT.

References

"NAIA Championship History" (PDF). NAIA. pp. 4–11. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 15, 2015. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
"NAIA Football Regular Season Records" (PDF). NAIA. pp. 20–23. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
"NAIA OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE - National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2015.

NAIA football

Seasons

1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970–1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Division I	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
Division II	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
Women's flag	2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

Championships

1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970–1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Division I	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
Division II	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996

Records & statistics

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