1996 Arizona Wildcats football team

The 1996 Arizona Wildcats football team represented the University of Arizona in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) during the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their tenth season under head coach Dick Tomey, the Wildcats compiled a 5–6 record (3–5 against Pac-10 opponents), finished in a tie for fifth place in the Pac-10, and outscored their opponents, 310 to 280.[1][2]

1996 Arizona Wildcats football
ConferencePacific-10 Conference
1996 record5–6 (3–5 Pac-10)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorHomer Smith (1st season)
Defensive coordinatorLarry Mac Duff (10th season)
Home stadiumArizona Stadium
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

The team played its home games in Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Arizona. On November 23, 1996, the team drew a record crowd of 59,920 to Arizona Stadium to watch a 56-14 loss to Arizona State. As of September 2016, this remains the Arizona Stadium attendance record.[3] The Wildcats allowed 450 rushing yards in the loss to the Sun Devils.[4] The highlight of the Arizona State game for the Wildcats was a 98-yard interception return, the second longest in program history, by Mikal Smith.[5]

Team records set during the 1996 season included: three interception returns for touchdown in a game (vs. Illinois); eight touchdowns allowed in a game (vs. California); 16 touchdowns scored in a Pac-10 game (vs. UCLA); 659 yards of total offense allowed in a Pac-10 game (vs. California); and 450 rushing yards allowed in a Pac-10 game (vs. Arizona State).[6]

The team's statistical leaders included Keith Smith with 1,450 passing yards, Gary Taylor with 564 rushing yards, and Jeremy McDaniel with 607 receiving yards.[7] Linebacker Chester Burnett led the team with 124 tackles.[8]

Schedule
DateOpponentSiteResultAttendance
August 31UTEP
W 23–340,388
September 7at Iowa
L 20–2168,267
September 14Illinois
  • Arizona Stadium
  • Tucson
W 41–043,012
September 21at No. 24 Washington
L 17–3173,414
October 5Washington State
  • Arizona Stadium
  • Tucson
W 34–2647,405
October 12at USC
L 7–1451,088
October 26Oregon State
  • Arizona Stadium
  • Tucson
W 33–743,716
November 2at California
L 55–56 (4OT)35,000
November 9at Oregon
L 31–4940,721
November 16UCLA
  • Arizona Stadium
  • Tucson
W 35–1747,171
November 23Arizona State
L 14–5659,920

Roster
1996 Arizona Wildcats football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
QB Brady Batten
WR Brad Brennan
RB Leon Callen
RB Trung Canidate
WR Richard Dice
RB Kelvin Eafon
QB 14 Ryan Hesson Sr
WR 5 Ron Holmes So
OL Rusty James
QB 19 Dan Loyd Fr
TE 88 Mike Lucky So
TE 96 Jeff Malone Jr
WR Jeremy McDaniel
TE Michael Metzler
OL 73 Frank Middleton Sr
RB Charles Myles
RB 33 Dennis Northcutt Fr
OL Jose Portilla
RB Kevin Schmidtke
OL Yusef Scott
QB Keith Smith
RB Scooter Sprotte
RB Gary Taylor
OL Ryan Turley
OL Willie Walker
WR Rodney Williams
OL Wayne Wyatt
 Defense
Pos.#NameClass
LB 40 Marcus Bell Fr
LB 35 Chester Burnett Jr
DB David Fipp
DB Leland Gayles
DL Daniel Greer
DL Tyrone Gunn
DB Kelly Malveaux
CB 11 Chris McAlister Jr
LB 31 DaShon Polk So
DT 56 Joe Salave'a Sr
DB Mikal Smith
LB Jimmy Sprotte
LB Mike Szlauko
DL Steve Tafua
DE 90 Van Tuinei Sr
DL Chiuma Ugwu
LB Armon Williams
 Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
K Matt Peyton
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured
  • Redshirt

Roster

Season summary

Arizona State
See also: 1996 Arizona State Sun Devils football team and Duel in the Desert
#4 Arizona State Sun Devils (10–0) at Arizona Wildcats (5–5)
1 2 34Total
Arizona St 7 21 141456
Arizona 0 7 0714

at Arizona Stadium, Tucson, Arizona

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

References
  1. "1996 Arizona Wildcats Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
  2. "Arizona Football 2016 Media Guide" (PDF). University of Arizona. 2016. p. 109. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
  3. 2016 Media Guide, p. 97.
  4. 2016 Media Guide, p. 89.
  5. 2016 Media Guide, p. 86.
  6. 2016 Media Guide, pp. 82-84.
  7. "1996 Arizona Wildcats Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
  8. 2016 Media Guide, p. 86.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.