1996 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

American college football season

1996 Penn State Nittany Lions football

Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy Fiesta Bowl champion
Fiesta Bowl, W 38–15 vs. Texas
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 7
AP	No. 7
Record	11–2 (6–2 Big Ten)
Head coach	Joe Paterno (31st season)
Offensive coordinator	Fran Ganter (13th season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Jerry Sandusky (20th season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Beaver Stadium
Seasons← 1995 1997 →

1996 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 2 Ohio State +	7	–	1	11	–	1
No. 15 Northwestern +	7	–	1	9	–	3
No. 7 Penn State	6	–	2	11	–	2
No. 18 Iowa	6	–	2	9	–	3
No. 20 Michigan	5	–	3	8	–	4
Michigan State	5	–	3	6	–	6
Wisconsin	3	–	5	8	–	5
Purdue	2	–	6	3	–	8
Minnesota	1	–	7	4	–	7
Indiana	1	–	7	3	–	8
Illinois	1	–	7	2	–	9

+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

The 1996 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University in the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Joe Paterno and played its home games in Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 25	2:00 p.m.	vs. No. 7 USC*	No. 11	Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ (Kickoff Classic)	ABC	W 24–7	77,716
September 7	3:30 p.m.	Louisville*	No. 7	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ABC	W 24–7	95,670
September 14	12:00 p.m.	Northern Illinois*	No. 6	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ESPN Plus	W 49–0	95,589
September 21	12:00 p.m.	vs. Temple*	No. 5	Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ	ESPN Plus	W 41–0	24,847
September 28	3:30 p.m.	at Wisconsin	No. 3	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ABC	W 23–20	79,607
October 5	3:30 p.m.	at No. 3 Ohio State	No. 4	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH (rivalry, College GameDay)	ABC	L 7–38	94,241
October 12	12:30 p.m.	Purdue	No. 10	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ESPN	W 31–14	96,653
October 19	12:30 p.m.	Iowa	No. 10	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ESPN2	L 20–21	96,230
October 26	12:30 p.m.	at Indiana	No. 17	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN	ESPN	W 48–26	37,354
November 2	3:30 p.m.	No. 11 Northwestern	No. 15	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ABC	W 34–9	96,596
November 16	12:00 p.m.	at No. 16 Michigan	No. 11	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)	ABC	W 29–17	105,898
November 23	3:30 p.m.	Michigan State	No. 7	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	ABC	W 32–29	96,263
January 1, 1997	8:00 p.m.	vs. No. 20 Texas*	No. 7	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ (Fiesta Bowl)	CBS	W 38–15	65,106
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Roster

1996 Penn State Nittany Lions football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
OT	`78`	John Blick	Fr
WR	`11`	Chris Campbell	Sr
OL	`53`	Jim Dudley	Fr
RB	`39`	Curtis Enis	So
WR	`83`	Joe Jurevicius	Jr
QB	`9`	Mike McQueary	Jr
G	`64`	Phil Ostrowski	Jr
QB	`14`	Wally Richardson	Sr
QB	`16`	Kevin Thompson	Fr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
LB	`6`	Aaron Collins	Jr
S	`3`	Kim Herring	Sr
SS	`4`	Derek Fox	Fr
LB	`44`	Jim Nelson	Jr
CB	`27`	David Macklin	Fr
LB	`98`	Matt Rhule	So
DB	`45`	Jon Sandusky	Fr
DE	`5`	Brad Scioli	So
LB	`43`	Brandon Short	Fr
DE	`91`	Chris Snyder	Jr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K	`20`	Brett Conway	Sr
P	`28`	Darrell Kania	Sr

Head coach

Joe Paterno

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Roster

NFL Draft

Three Nittany Lions were drafted in the 1997 NFL draft.

Round	Pick	Overall	Name	Position	Team
2nd	28	58	Kim Herring	Free safety	Baltimore Ravens
3rd	30	90	Brett Conway	Placekicker	Green Bay Packers
7th	33	234	Wally Richardson	Quarterback	Baltimore Ravens

References

"Penn State Yearly Results (1995-1999)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on August 5, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2015.

v t e Penn State Nittany Lions football
Venues	Old Main lawn (until 1891) Beaver Field (1892–1908) New Beaver Field (1909–1959) Beaver Stadium (1960–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Alabama Maryland Michigan Michigan State Minnesota: Governor's Victory Bell Ohio State Old Ironsides Pittsburgh Syracuse West Virginia
Culture & lore	Nittany Lion "Fight On, State" Penn State Blue Band Uplifting Athletes Joe Paterno statue Something for Joey 1982 Nebraska game Child sex abuse scandal 2016 Ohio State game Paterno White Out 2021 Illinois game
People	Head coaches All-Americans NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1881 1882–1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 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 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
National championship seasons in bold

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