1996 Northwestern Wildcats football team

The 1996 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University in the 1996 NCAA Division I-A college football season. Under head coach Gary Barnett, Northwestern finished the season with a 9–3 record. The Wildcats won a share of the Big Ten Conference title for the second straight year. They faced off against Tennessee in the Florida Citrus Bowl, where the Wildcats lost, 48–28.

1996 Northwestern Wildcats football
Big Ten co-champion
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 16
APNo. 15
1996 record9–3 (7–1 Big Ten)
Head coach
Defensive coordinatorRon Vanderlinden (5th season)
Captains
Home stadiumDyche Stadium (Capacity: 48,187)
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

Schedule
DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 65:30 pmat Wake Forest*No. 13
SCCL 27–2821,749
September 142:30 pmat Duke*
ABCW 38–1329,321
September 2111:30 amOhio*
SCCW 28–738,148
September 2811:30 amat IndianaNo. 25
ESPNW 35–1736,714
October 511:30 amNo. 6 MichiganNo. 22
  • Dyche Stadium
  • Evanston, Illinois
ESPNW 17–1648,187
October 1211:30 amMinnesotaNo. 15
  • Dyche Stadium
  • Evanston, Illinois
ESPN2W 26–2435,848
October 1911:30 amat WisconsinNo. 14
ESPN2W 34–3079,576
October 2611:00 amIllinoisNo. 11
  • Dyche Stadium
  • Evanston, Illinois
ESPN+W 27–2448,187
November 22:30 pmat No. 15 Penn StateNo. 11
ABCL 9–3496,596
November 92:30 pmat No. 23 IowaNo. 18
ABCW 40–1370,397
November 161:00 pmPurdueNo. 13
  • Dyche Stadium
  • Evanston, Illinois
W 27–2441,178
January 112:00 pmvs. No. 9 Tennessee*No. 11
ABCL 28–4863,467
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Central time

Roster
1996 Northwestern Wildcats football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
RB 32 Adrian Autry Jr
RB 24 Darnell Autry Jr
WR 5 D'Wayne Bates So
G 61 Justin Chabot (C) Sr
QB 8 Tim Hughes Sr
T 74 Paul Janus Sr
WR 22 Brian Musso Jr
QB 10 Steve Schnur (C) Sr
WR 25 Jeff Swenson Jr
TE 84 Jay Tant Fr
 Defense
Pos.#NameClass
SS 33 Eric Collier Sr
DE 36 Casey Dailey Jr
LB 51 Pat Fitzgerald (C) Sr
LB 55 Barry Gardner So
CB 3 Hudhaifa Ismaeli Jr
LB 44 Keith Lozowski Sr
DT 94 Joe Reiff Sr
DT 95 Matt Rice Sr
DT 96 Ray Robey Sr
LB 59 Jason Ross Jr
LB 52 Tim Scharf Sr
DE 90 Thor Schmidt So
 Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
P 14 Paul Burton Sr
K 13 Brian Gowins Jr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured
  • Redshirt

Roster

Rankings
Further information: 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 18 15 13 NR NR 25 22 15 14 11 11 18 13 11 11 10 11 15 
Coaches 19 18 NR NR NR NR 18 15 12 10 18 14 11 11 12 11 16

[2]

Game summaries

Wake Forest
See also: 1996 Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
2–0 1993 W 26–14

Duke
See also: 1996 Duke Blue Devils football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
0–6 1990 L 24–27

Ohio
See also: 1996 Ohio Bobcats football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
0–1 1973 L 12–14

Indiana
See also: 1996 Indiana Hoosiers football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
36–31–1 1995 W 31–7

Michigan
See also: 1996 Michigan Wolverines football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
12–45–2 1995 W 19–13

Minnesota
See also: 1996 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
25–45–5 1995 W 27–17

Wisconsin
#14 Northwestern at Wisconsin
1 234Total
• Wildcats 7 7614 34
Badgers 10 3314 30
See also: 1996 Wisconsin Badgers football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
28–50–5 1995 W 35–0

[3]

Illinois
See also: 1996 Illinois Fighting Illini football team and Illinois–Northwestern football rivalry
Overall record Last meeting Result
37–47–5 1995 W 17–14

Penn State
See also: 1996 Penn State Nittany Lions football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
1–2 1995 W 21–10

Iowa
#18 Northwestern at #23 Iowa
1 234Total
• Wildcats 3 101314 40
Hawkeyes 0 706 13
See also: 1996 Iowa Hawkeyes football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
15–41–3 1995 W 31–20

[4]

Purdue
See also: 1996 Purdue Boilermakers football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
22–40–1 1995 W 23–8

Florida Citrus Bowl
#9 Tennessee vs. #11 Northwestern
1 234Total
• Volunteers 21 10710 48
Wildcats 0 2107 28
See also: 1996 Tennessee Volunteers football team and 1997 Florida Citrus Bowl
Overall record Last meeting Result
First meeting

Awards and honors

Team players drafted into the NFL
Main article: 1997 NFL Draft
PlayerPositionRoundPickNFL club
Darnell AutryRunning back4105Chicago Bears
Tim ScharfLinebacker6164New York Jets
Hudhaifa IsmaeliDefensive back7203Miami Dolphins

[5]

References
  1. "Year-by-Year Results" (PDF). 2007. p. 149. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-03-16. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
  2. "Northwestern 1996 AP Football Rankings". collegepollarchive.com. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  3. "Northwestern vs. Wisconsin". USA Today. October 19, 1996. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  4. "Northwestern vs. Iowa". USA Today. November 9, 1996. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  5. "1997 NFL Draft". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
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