1996 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

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.

1996 Ohio State Buckeyes football
Big Ten co-champion Rose Bowl champion
Rose Bowl, W 20–17 vs. Arizona State
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 2
AP	No. 2
1996 record	11–1 (7–1 Big Ten)
Head coach	John Cooper (9th season)
Offensive coordinator	Joe Hollis (5th season)
Defensive coordinator	Fred Pagac (1st season)
Home stadium	Ohio Stadium (Capacity: 89,841)

1996 Big Ten Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
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 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 National Championship was claimed by both Ohio State and Florida following a 2018 Gatorade commercial that debuted during the 2017 NCAA National Championship game.

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	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	ESPN+	W 70–7	93,479[1]
September 21	12:30 p.m.	Pittsburgh*	No. 7	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	ESPN	W 72–0	93,959[1]
September 28	2:30 p.m.	at No. 5 Notre Dame*	No. 4	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (College GameDay)	NBC	W 29–16	59,075[1]
October 5	3:30 p.m.	No. 4 Penn State	No. 3	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH (rivalry) (College GameDay)	ABC	W 38–7	94,241[1]
October 12	3:30 p.m.	Wisconsin	No. 2	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	ABC	W 17–14	94,215[1]
October 19	3:30 p.m.	at Purdue	No. 2	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	ABC	W 42–14	60,172[1]
October 26	3:30 p.m.	at No. 20 Iowa	No. 2	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA (College GameDay)	ABC	W 38–26	70,397[1]
November 2	12:30 p.m.	Minnesota	No. 2	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	ESPN2	W 45–0	93,588[1]
November 9	12:30 p.m.	at Illinois	No. 2	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ESPN	W 48–0	54,412[1]
November 16	3:30 p.m.	at Indiana	No. 2	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN	ABC	W 27–17	49,271[1]
November 23	12:00 p.m.	No. 21 Michigan	No. 2	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH (The Game)	ABC	L 9–13	94,676[1]
January 1, 1997	4:30 p.m.	vs. No. 2 Arizona State*	No. 4	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA (Rose Bowl)	ABC	W 20–17	100,635[1]
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Game summaries

Rice

1 2 3 4 Total Rice 0 7 0 0 7 • Ohio St 21 21 21 7 70 Date: September 7 Location: Ohio Stadium Game attendance: 93,479 Television 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

1 2 3 4 Total Pittsburgh 0 0 0 0 0 • Ohio St 21 31 13 7 72 Date: September 21 Location: Ohio Stadium

Notre Dame

1 2 3 4 Total • Ohio St 12 10 7 0 29 Notre Dame 7 0 3 6 16 Date: September 28 Location: Notre Dame Stadium

Penn State

1 2 3 4 Total Penn St 0 0 0 7 7 • Ohio St 10 14 7 7 38 Date: October 5 Location: Ohio Stadium

Wisconsin

1 2 3 4 Total Wisconsin 0 7 0 7 14 • Ohio St 0 3 7 7 17 Date: October 12 Location: Ohio Stadium

Purdue

1 2 3 4 Total • Ohio St 7 7 14 14 42 Purdue 14 0 0 0 14 Date: October 19 Location: Ross–Ade Stadium

Iowa

1 2 3 4 Total • Ohio St 17 14 7 0 38 Iowa 3 3 6 14 26 Date: October 26 Location: Kinnick Stadium

Minnesota

1 2 3 4 Total Minnesota 0 0 0 0 0 • Ohio St 0 10 21 14 45 Date: November 2 Location: Ohio Stadium

Illinois

1 2 3 4 Total • Ohio St 0 28 20 0 48 Illinois 0 0 0 0 0 Date: November 9 Location: Memorial Stadium

Indiana

1 2 3 4 Total • Ohio St 0 7 0 20 27 Indiana 0 3 7 7 17 Date: November 16 Location: Memorial Stadium

Michigan

1 2 3 4 Total • Michigan 0 0 10 3 13 Ohio St 3 6 0 0 9 Date: November 23 Location: Ohio Stadium

Rose Bowl

See also: 1997 Rose Bowl

1 2 3 4 Total • Ohio St 7 0 7 6 20 Arizona St 0 7 3 7 17 Date: January 1 Location: Rose Bowl

Rankings

See also: 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	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 Pos. # Name Class WR 9 David Boston So G 57 LeShun Daniels Sr WR 82 Mike Furrey Fr QB 7 Joe Germaine So WR 15 Dee Miller So RB 33 Joe Montgomery So G 56 Rob Murphy Fr T 75 Orlando Pace Jr WR 6 Jimmy Redmond Fr C 77 Tyson Walter Fr RB 5 Michael Wiley Fr	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 30 Greg Bellisari Sr S 1 Gary Berry Fr LB 32 Na'il Diggs Fr DT 99 Luke Fickell Sr DT 68 Winfield Garrett Jr CB 2 Ty Howard Sr LB 45 Andy Katzenmoyer Fr S 34 Rob Kelly Sr CB 20 Central McClellion So LB 43 Ryan Miller Sr SS 13 Damon Moore So CB 19 Ahmed Plummer Fr CB 24 Shawn Springs Jr LB 94 Mike Vrabel Sr CB 11 Antoine Winfield So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 41 Brent Bartholomew So LS 87 Kevin Houser Fr	Head coach John Cooper 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 WLB MLB SLB 43 Ryan Miller 45 Andy Katzenmoyer 30 Greg Bellisari 35 Jerry Rudzinski 51 Roedell Dupree 52 Kevin Johnson SS 13 Damon Moore 18 Che Bryant CB 2 Ty Howard ⋅ DE DT DT DE 94 Mike Vrabel 99 Luke Fickell 68 Winfield Garnett 92 Matt Finkes ⋅ 62 Shane Clark 97 John Day ⋅ CB 24 Shawn Springs 11 Antoine Winfield Offense SE 9 David Boston 12 Buster Tillman LT LG C RG RT 75 Orlando Pace 56 Rob Murphy 65 Juan Porter 57 LeShun Daniels 50 Eric Gohlstin ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ TE 85 John Lumpkin ⋅ FL 3 Dimitrious Stanley 15 Dee Miller QB 8 Stanley Jackson 7 Joe Germaine Key Reserves 23 Matt Keller (FB) FB 37 Nicky Sualua 39 Matt Calhoun Special Teams PK 4 Josh Jackson P 41 Brent Bartholomew RB 29 Pepe Pearson 25 Jermon Jackson

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Awards and honors

• Andy Katzenmoyer, Big Ten Freshman of the Year

1997 NFL draftees

Player	Round	Pick	Position	NFL Club
Orlando Pace	1	1	Tackle	St. Louis Rams
Shawn Springs	1	3	Defensive Back	Seattle Seahawks
Rob Kelly	2	33	Defensive Back	New Orleans Saints
Ty Howard	3	84	Defensive Back	Arizona Cardinals
Mike Vrabel	3	91	Defensive End	Pittsburgh Steelers
Nicky Sualua	4	129	Running Back	Dallas Cowboys
Matt Finkes	6	189	Defensive End	Carolina Panthers

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References

1. Park, Jack (2003). The Official Ohio State Football Encyclopedia. Champaign, IL: Sports Publishing LLC. ISBN 1-58261-695-7.
2. USA Today
3. 1986 Ohio State Football Media Guide
4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-10-05. Retrieved 2009-10-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

Buckeye Sports Bulletin (1997), Rose Bowl Championship Yearbook

Draft data

• Ohio State Drafted Players