1996 Arizona State Sun Devils football team

The 1996 Arizona State Sun Devils football team represented the Arizona State University in the 1996 NCAA Division I-A college football season. The team's head coach was Bruce Snyder, who was coaching his fifth season with the Sun Devils and 17th season overall. Home games were played at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. They participated as members of the Pacific-10 Conference.

1996 Arizona State Sun Devils football
Pac-10 champion
Rose Bowl, L 17–20 vs. Ohio State
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 4
AP	No. 4
1996 record	11–1 (8–0 Pac-10)
Head coach	Bruce Snyder (5th season)
Offensive coordinator	Dan Cozzetto
Defensive coordinator	Phil Snow (2nd season)
Home stadium	Sun Devil Stadium (Capacity: 73,379)

1996 Pacific-10 Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 4 Arizona State $		8	–	0					11	–	1
No. 16 Washington		7	–	1					9	–	3
Stanford		5	–	3					7	–	5
UCLA		4	–	4					5	–	6
Oregon		3	–	5					6	–	5
California		3	–	5					6	–	6
USC		3	–	5					6	–	6
Arizona		3	–	5					5	–	6
Washington State		3	–	5					5	–	6
Oregon State		1	–	7					2	–	9
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Regular season

In 1996, the Sun Devils went a surprising 11–1, highlighted by a 19–0 shutout of the number-one-ranked, two-time defending national champion, Nebraska Cornhuskers in Tempe, ending Nebraska's 26-game win streak. The upset win also gained a measure of revenge from the previous season, when they went into Lincoln and were not only defeated by a 77–28 margin, but were enraged after the eventual national champions threw a long touchdown pass in the game's final minutes. ASU quarterback Jake Plummer led the Sun Devils, propelling Arizona State into the Rose Bowl against the Ohio State Buckeyes. Had the Sun Devils won, they would have had a very good chance of winning at least a share of the national championship, as they would have been the only undefeated major-college team in the nation. The Sun Devils led 17–14 with 1:47 left in the fourth quarter, but surrendered a late touchdown to Ohio State, falling by a final score of 20–17. As it turned out, Florida State lost in the Sugar Bowl to the Florida Gators; had the Sun Devils won, they would have had a perfect 12–0 record while the Gators would have finished with one regular season loss (to the Seminoles).

Schedule

The Sun Devils finished the season with an 11–1 record.

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 7	7:00 PM	Washington	No. 20	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, Arizona	FSN	W 45–42	73,379
September 14	7:00 PM	North Texas*	No. 18	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, Arizona		W 52–7	46,173
September 21	7:15 PM	No. 1 Nebraska*	No. 17	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, Arizona	FSN	W 19–0	74,089
September 28	3:30 PM	Oregon	No. 6	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, Arizona	FSN	W 48–27	54,618
October 5	7:00 PM	Boise State*	No. 5	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, Arizona		W 56–7	49,018
October 12	12:30 PM	at UCLA	No. 4	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California	ABC	W 42–34	66,107
October 19	12:30 PM	USC	No. 4	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, Arizona	ABC	W 48–35 ^2OT	74,947
October 26	12:30 PM	at Stanford	No. 4	Stanford Stadium Stanford, California	ABC	W 41–9	32,550
November 2	2:00 PM	at Oregon State	No. 4	Parker Stadium Corvallis, Oregon		W 29–14	21,946
November 9	4:30 PM	California	No. 4	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, Arizona	FSN	W 35–7	74,963
November 23	4:30 PM	at Arizona	No. 4	Arizona Stadium Tucson, Arizona (Duel in the Desert)	FSN	W 56–14	59,920
January 1	1:30 PM	vs. No. 4 Ohio State*	No. 2	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California (Rose Bowl)	ABC	L 17–20	100,635
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from Coaches' Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

Roster

1996 Arizona State Sun Devils football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class TE Kendrick Bates RB 8 Terry Battle Sr WR 24 Ricky Boyer So TE 82 Steve Bush Sr QB 11 Steve Campbell So RB Marlon Farlow QB Gus Farwell OT 70 Glen Gable Jr RB 39 Scott Hansen Jr WR 83 Lenzie Jackson So TE 87 Brian Jennings Fr TE 88 Devin Kendall Sr RB 29 Michael Martin Jr WR 81 Kenny Mitchell So RB Mike Morales OG 56 Kyle Murphy Jr WR 7 Isaiah Mustafa FB 44 Jeff Paulk So QB 16 Jake Plummer Sr WR 3 Keith Poole Sr RB 21 J. R. Redmond Fr C 65 Kirk Robertson Sr OL Zack Romero OT 74 Juan Roque Sr OG 51 Grey Ruegamer So OT 71 Marvel Smith Fr WR Craig Spenn OL 67 Pat Thompson Sr RB Kevin Tommasini	Defense Pos. # Name Class DE 98 Vincent Amey Jr DL Albrey Battle DE 55 Dave Baumgartner Sr DT 94 Brent Burnstein Sr DE 93 Malchi Crawford Jr LB 47 Chris Finn Sr DB Mitchell Freedman DB Courtney Jackson DB 39 Damien Richardson Jr LB 59 Derrick Rodgers Sr DT 92 Jeremy Staat Jr CB 10 Jason Simmons Sr S 9 Thomas Simmons Jr LB 36 Derek Smith Sr DB Marcus Soward DT 99 Shawn Swayda Sr DB 42 Pat Tillman Jr DB, RB 22 Raenaurd Turpin Sr LB 50 Scott Von der Ahe Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 17 Lance Anderson Jr K 41 Robert Nycz Jr	Head coach Bruce Snyder Coordinators/assistant coaches Dan Cozzetto – Offensive coordinator Phil Snow – Defensive coordinator Kevin Wolthausen – Defensive line Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster

Rankings

Main article: 1996 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP	20	20	20	18	17	6 (1)	5 (1)	4 (1)	4 (1)	4 (1)	4 (1)	4 (1)	4 (2)	4 (2)	3 (3)	2 (5)	2 (5)	4
Coaches Poll	NR	–	NR	23	22	12	7	5	5	4	4	4	4	4	3 (3)	2 (6)	2 (5)	4

Game summaries

Washington

See also: 1996 Washington Huskies football team

Washington Huskies (0–0) at #20 Arizona State Sun Devils (0–0)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Washington	7	7	7	21	42
Arizona St	7	7	14	17	45

at Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona

• Date: September 21, 1996
• Game weather: 95 °F (35 °C)
• Game attendance: 73,379

Game information

First quarter ASU – Michael Martin 35-yard pass from Jake Plummer (Robert Nycz kick), 11:45. Arizona St 7–0. Drive: WASH – Dave Janoski 67-yard punt return (kick good). Tie 7–7 Second quarter WASH – Rashaan Shehee 6-yard run (kick good), 6:19. Washington 14–7. Drive: ASU – Ricky Boyer 13-yard pass from Jake Plummer (Robert Nycz kick), 0:48. Tie 14–14. Drive: Third quarter WASH – Cameron Cleeland 36-yard pass from Shane Fortney (kick good). 'Washington 21–14. Drive: ASU – Michael Martin 1-yard run (Robert Nycz kick). Tie 21–21. Drive: ASU – Isaiah Mustafa recovered fumble in end zone (Robert Nycz kick), 3:07. Arizona St 28–21. Fourth quarter ASU – Terry Battle 7-yard run (Robert Nycz kick), 14:31. Arizona St 35–21. Drive: ASU – Steve Bush 1-yard pass from Jake Plummer (Robert Nycz kick), 12:01. Arizona St 42–21. Drive: WASH – Brock Huard 10-yard run (kick good), 9:00. Arizona St 42–28. Drive: WASH – Gerald Harris 67-yard pass from Brock Huard (kick good), 7:15. Arizona St 42–35. Drive: WASH – Corey Dillon 8-yard run (kick good), 5:13. Tie 42–42. Drive: ASU – Robert Nycz 38-yard field goal, 0:02. Arizona St 45–42. Drive: Top passers WASH – Brock Huard – 6/11, 143 yards, TD ASU – Jake Plummer – 16/30, 186 yards, 3 TD Top rushers WASH ASU Top receivers WASH ASU

[1]

North Texas

See also: North Texas Mean Green football

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–1	1956	W 27–7

Nebraska

Nebraska at Arizona State

1 2 3 4 Total No. 1 Cornhuskers 0 0 0 0 0 • No. 17 Sun Devils 9 8 0 2 19 Date: September 21 Location: Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona Game attendance: 74,089

Scoring summary 1 11:38 ASU Keith Poole 22-yard pass from Jake Plummer (Robert Nycz kick) ASU 7–0 1 10:38 ASU Safety, Ahman Green fumbled out of end zone ASU 9–0 2 8:59 ASU Robert Nycz 27-yard field goal ASU 12–0 2 2:19 ASU Safety, ball snapped out of end zone ASU 14–0 2 0:30 ASU Robert Nycz 44-yard field goal ASU 17–0 4 6:43 ASU Safety, Scott Frost tackled in end zone ASU 19–0

See also: 1996 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–5	1995	L 28–77

[2][3][4]

Oregon

See also: 1996 Oregon Ducks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
11–5	1995	W 35–24

[5]

Boise State

See also: 1996 Boise State Broncos football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

[6]

at UCLA

Arizona State at UCLA

1 2 3 4 Total • No. 4 Sun Devils 7 7 7 21 42 Bruins 21 7 6 0 34 Date: October 12 Location: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California Game attendance: 66,107

See also: 1996 UCLA Bruins football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–10–1	1995	W 37–33

[7]

USC

See also: 1996 USC Trojans football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–6	1995	L 0–31

[8]

at Stanford

See also: 1996 Stanford Cardinal football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
8–4	1995	L 28–30

[9]

at Oregon State

Arizona State at Oregon State

1 2 3 4 Total • No. 4 Sun Devils 6 3 13 7 29 Beavers 0 14 0 0 14 Date: November 2 Location: Parker Stadium, Corvallis, Oregon Game attendance: 21,946

See also: 1996 Oregon State Beavers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
17–6–1	1995	W 20–11

[10]

California

California at Arizona State

1 2 3 4 Total Golden Bears 7 0 0 0 7 • No. 20 Sun Devils 0 14 7 14 35 Date: November 9 Location: Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona Game attendance: 74,963

See also: 1996 California Golden Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
9–8	1995	W 38–29

[11]

at Arizona

See also: 1996 Arizona Wildcats football team and Duel in the Desert

#4 Arizona State Sun Devils (10–0) at Arizona Wildcats (5–5)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Arizona St	7	21	14	14	56
Arizona	0	7	0	7	14

at Arizona Stadium, Tucson, Arizona

• Date: November 23, 1996
• Game weather: Cloudy, 62 °F (17 °C)
• Game attendance: 59,920
• Recap/Box Score

Game information

First quarter ASU – Terry Battle 20-yard run (Robert Nycz kick), 0:15. Arizona St 7–0. Drive: 3 plays, 34 yards, 0:59. Second quarter ASU – Terry Battle 4-yard run (Robert Nycz kick), 12:17. Arizona St 14–0. Drive: 2 plays, 5 yards, 0:32. ARIZ – Keith Smith 1-yard run (Matt Peyton kick), 8:20. Arizona St 14–7. Drive: 7 plays, 70 yards, 3:57. ASU – Keith Poole 27-yard pass from Jake Plummer (Robert Nycz kick), 7:13. Arizona St 21–7. Drive: 3 plays, 75 yards, 1:07. ASU – Terry Battle 1-yard run (Robert Nycz kick), 1:17. Arizona St 28–7. Drive: 6 plays, 73 yards, 1:45. Third quarter ASU – Keith Poole 40-yard pass from Jake Plummer (Robert Nycz kick), 10:22. Arizona St 35–7. Drive: 7 plays, 69 yards, 2:30. ASU – Steve Bush 10-yard pass from Jake Plummer (Robert Nycz kick), 0:39. Arizona St 42–7. Drive: 8 plays, 53 yards, 3:24. Fourth quarter ARIZ – Mikal Smith 98-yard interception return (Matt Peyton kick), 12:18. Arizona St 42–14. ASU – Marlon Farlow 1-yard run (Robert Nycz kick), 10:47. Arizona St 49–14. Drive: 5 plays, 56 yards, 1:31. ASU – Marlon Farlow 8-yard run (Robert Nycz kick), 1:06. Arizona St 56–14. Drive: 11 plays, 85 yards, 7:27. Top passers ASU – Jake Plummer – 10/19, 201 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT ARIZ – Keith Smith – 6/15, 91 yards, INT Top rushers ASU – Terry Battle – 23 rushes, 143 yards, 3 TD ARIZ – Leon Callen – 6 rushes, 19 yards Top receivers ASU – Keith Poole – 4 receptions, 123 yards, 2 TD ARIZ – Jeremy McDaniel – 2 receptions, 54 yards

• Bruce Snyder's 100th career win
• Terry Battle passes 1,000 yards rushing for the season (ASU – 450 rush yards)

[12]

vs. Ohio State (Rose Bowl)

Ohio State vs. Arizona State

1 2 3 4 Total • No. 4 Buckeyes 7 0 7 6 20 No. 2 Sun Devils 0 7 3 7 17 Date: January 1 Location: Rose Bowl Game attendance: 100,635 Referee: Terry Monk TV announcers (ABC): Brent Musburger (Play-by-play), Dick Vermeil (Analyst), and Jack Arute (Sideline)

Scoring summary 1 5:04 OSU David Boston 9-yard pass from Stanley Jackson (Josh Jackson kick) OSU 7–0 2 10:04 ASU Ricky Boyer 25-yard pass from Jake Plummer (Robert Nycz kick) Tied 7–7 3 9:12 ASU Robert Nycz 37-yard field goal ASU 10–7 3 8:23 OSU Dimitrious Stanley 72-yard pass from Joe Germaine (J. Jackson kick) OSU 14–10 4 1:40 ASU Plummer 11-yard run (Nycz kick) ASU 17–14 4 0:19 OSU Boston 5-yard pass from Germaine (kick blocked) OSU 20–17

Main article: 1997 Rose Bowl

See also: 1996 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–1	1980	L 21–38

[13]

Awards and honors

• Jake Plummer – Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year, Third in Heisman Trophy balloting
• Bruce Snyder – Paul "Bear" Bryant Award[14]

1996 Team Players in the NFL

The following players were claimed in the 1997 NFL Draft.

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL Club
Juan Roque	Tackle	2	35	Detroit Lions
Jake Plummer	Quarterback	2	42	Arizona Cardinals
Derek M. Smith	Outside Linebacker	3	80	Washington Redskins
Derrick Rodgers	Outside Linebacker	3	92	Miami Dolphins
Keith Poole	Wide receiver	4	116	New Orleans Saints
Scott Von der Ahe	Linebacker	6	182	Indianapolis Colts
Shawn Swayda	Defensive tackle	6	196	Chicago Bears
Terry Battle	Running back	7	206	Detroit Lions

[15]

References

1. "Arizona St. 45, Washington 42". The Washington Post. September 8, 1996. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
2. "Sun Devils Become Cornshockers: Arizona State Ends Nebraska's 26-Game Winning Streak, 19-0". The Spokesman-Review. September 22, 1996. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
3. "ARIZONA STATE SHOCKS NO. 1 NEBRASKA, 19-0". The Buffalo News. September 21, 1996. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
4. "DEVIL OF AN UPSET". Sports Illustrated. September 30, 1996. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
5. "No Letdown for Arizona State". Los Angeles Times. September 29, 1996. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
6. "Arizona State Is Still Running in High Gear, 56-7". Los Angeles Times. October 6, 1996. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
7. "Sun Devils Survive UCLA Scare: Plummer Spearheads Late Rally To Keep Arizona State Unbeaten". The Spokesman-Review. October 13, 1996. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
8. "ARIZONA ST. 48, USC 35". Chicago Tribune. October 20, 1996. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
9. "Arizona State Routs Stanford, 41-9". Los Angeles Times. October 27, 1996. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
10. "Arizona St. 29, Oregon St. 14". The Washington Post. November 2, 1996. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
11. "Sun Devils Clinch Title: Easy Win Puts Asu In Rose Bowl". The Spokesman-Review. November 10, 1996. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
12. "Arizona State Flattens Arizona". The Spokesman-Review. November 24, 1996. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
13. "Time Runs Out on Sun Devils' National Title Bid". The New York Times. January 2, 1997. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
14. http://www.nssahalloffame.com/72/index.aspx
15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-10-05. Retrieved 2015-11-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)