1996 Utah Utes football team

1996 Utah Utes football
Copper Bowl vs. Wisconsin, L, 38–10
Conference Western Athletic Conference Mountain Division
1996 record 8–4 (6–2 WAC)
Head coach Ron McBride
Offensive coordinator Fred Graves
Defensive coordinator Kyle Whittingham
Home stadium Rice Stadium (32,500)
Seasons
« 1995 1997 »
1996 WAC football standings
Conf     Overall
Team   W   L         W   L  
Mountain
#5 BYU x   8 0         14 1  
Utah   6 2         8 4  
Rice   6 2         7 4  
SMU   4 4         5 6  
New Mexico   3 5         6 5  
TCU   3 5         4 7  
Tulsa   2 6         4 7  
UTEP   0 8         2 9  
Pacific
#22 Wyoming x   7 1         10 2  
San Diego State   6 2         8 3  
Colorado State   6 2         7 5  
Air Force   5 3         6 5  
Fresno State   3 5         4 7  
San Jose State   3 5         3 9  
Hawaii   1 7         2 10  
UNLV   1 8         1 11  
Championship: BYU 28, Wyoming 25 (OT)
† – Conference champion
x – Division champion/co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1996 season started with a loss at Utah State, but the team quickly turned things around, winning the next 7 games and climbing to a #20 ranking in the AP Poll. This run came to a crashing halt when the Utes suffered their worst loss in six years to the Rice Owls, giving up 496 yards rushing.[1] This set the tone for the end of the season, with the Utes going 1-3 in their last four games, giving up a total of 1,439 yards rushing in these 4 games (359.75 avg), including a 38–10 loss to the Wisconsin Badgers in the 1996 Copper Bowl.

Contents

Schedule

Date Time Opponent# Rank# Site TV Result Attendance
August 31 7:00 PM at Utah State* Romney StadiumLogan, UT (Battle of the Brothers) L 17–20   30,257
September 7 5:00 PM at Stanford* Stanford StadiumStanford, CA W 17–10   34,587
September 14 6:00 PM at SMU Ownby StadiumDallas, TX KJZZ W 21–17   22,614
September 21 7:00 PM Fresno State Rice StadiumSalt Lake City, UT W 45–17   32,539
September 28 7:00 PM #20 Kansas* Rice Stadium • Salt Lake City, UT ESPN2 W 45–42   32,519
October 5 1:00 PM at UTEP #24 Sun Bowl StadiumEl Paso, TX W 34–27   28,271
October 19 12:00 PM TCU #24 Rice Stadium • Salt Lake City, UT W 21–7   28,786
October 26 12:00 PM Tulsa #21 Rice Stadium • Salt Lake City, UT W 45–19   29,047
November 2 1:00 PM at Rice #20 Rice StadiumHouston, TX L 10–51   23,250
November 9 8:00 PM at New Mexico University StadiumAlbuquerque, NM (The Bowl) ESPN2 W 31–24   22,241
November 23 10:30 AM #8 BYU Rice Stadium • Salt Lake City, UT (Holy War) ESPN L 17–37   35,378
December 27 7:00 PM vs. Wisconsin* Arizona StadiumTucson, Arizona (Copper Bowl) ESPN L 10–38   42,122
*Non-conference game. Homecoming. #Rankings from AP Poll. All times are in Mountain Time.

[2][3] [4]

After the season

NFL draft

No players went in the 1997 NFL Draft.

See also

References