1996 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

The 1996 West Virginia Mountaineers football team represented West Virginia University in the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. It was the Mountaineers' 104th overall and 6th season as a member of the Big East Conference (Big East). The team was led by head coach Don Nehlen, in his 17th year, and played their home games at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia. They finished the season with a record of eight wins and four losses (8–4 overall, 4–3 in the Big East) and with a loss in the Gator Bowl against North Carolina.

1996 West Virginia Mountaineers football
Gator Bowl, L 13–20 vs. North Carolina
Conference	Big East Conference
1996 record	8–4 (4–3 Big East)
Head coach	Don Nehlen (17th season)
Home stadium	Mountaineer Field (Capacity: 63,500)

1996 Big East Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 13 Virginia Tech +		6	–	1					10	–	2
No. 14 Miami (FL) +		6	–	1					9	–	3
No. 21 Syracuse +		6	–	1					9	–	3
West Virginia		4	–	3					8	–	4
Pittsburgh		3	–	4					4	–	7
Boston College		2	–	5					5	–	7
Rutgers		1	–	6					2	–	9
Temple		0	–	7					1	–	10
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	7:30 p.m.	at Pittsburgh		Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh (Backyard Brawl)	ESPN	W 34–0	54,612
September 7	Noon	Western Michigan*		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	ESPN+	W 34–9	47,938
September 14	Noon	East Carolina*		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	ESPN+	W 10–9	50,129
September 21	7:00 p.m.	at Purdue*		Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, Indiana		W 20–6	40,624
September 28	6:00 p.m.	Maryland*	No. 23	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia (rivalry)	ESPN2	W 13–0	54,542
October 5	3:30 p.m.	Boston College	No. 19	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	CBS	W 34–17	58,307
October 19	1:30 p.m.	at Temple	No. 15	Veterans Stadium Philadelphia		W 30–10	12,546
October 26	7:00 p.m.	No. 25 Miami (FL)	No. 12	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	ESPN	L 7–10	66,948
November 2	3:30 p.m.	Syracuse	No. 18	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia (Ben Schwartzwalder Trophy)	CBS	L 7–30	56,312
November 9	Noon	at Rutgers		Rutgers Stadium Piscataway, New Jersey		W 55–14	21,024
November 23	Noon	at No. 17 Virginia Tech	No. 23	Lane Stadium Blacksburg, Virginia (Black Diamond Trophy)	ESPN2	L 14–31	50,086
January 1	12:30 p.m.	vs. No. 12 North Carolina	No. 25	Jacksonville Municipal Stadium Jacksonville, Florida (Gator Bowl)	CBS	L 13–20	52,103
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

• Reference:[1]

Roster

1996 West Virginia Mountaineers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 8 Chad Johnston Sr QB 10 Marc Bulger Fr QB 17 Ja'Juan Seider Fr RB 20 Amos Zereoue Fr TE 82 Anthony Becht Fr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 23 Mike Logan Sr LB 57 Gary Stills So DT 78 Henry Slay So LB 91 Bernard Russ Sr DT 92 John Thornton So LB 98 Kevin Landolt So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Don Nehlen Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

References

1. "WVU 1996 Schedule". The West Virginia University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Archived from the original on 2012-04-06. Retrieved June 23, 2012.