1996 Arizona State Sun Devils football team

The 1996 Arizona State Sun Devils football team represented the Arizona State University in the 1996 NCAA Division I-A college football season. The team's head coach was Bruce Snyder, who was coaching his fifth season with the Sun Devils and 17th season overall. Home games were played at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. They participated as members of the Pacific-10 Conference.

1996 Arizona State Sun Devils football
Pac-10 champion
Rose Bowl, L 17–20 vs. Ohio State
ConferencePacific-10 Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 4
APNo. 4
1996 record11–1 (8–0 Pac-10)
Head coachBruce Snyder (5th season)
Offensive coordinatorDan Cozzetto
Defensive coordinatorPhil Snow (2nd season)
Home stadiumSun Devil Stadium
(Capacity: 73,379)
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

Regular season

In 1996, the Sun Devils went a surprising 11–1, highlighted by a 19–0 shutout of the number-one-ranked, two-time defending national champion, Nebraska Cornhuskers in Tempe, ending Nebraska's 26-game win streak. The upset win also gained a measure of revenge from the previous season, when they went into Lincoln and were not only defeated by a 77–28 margin, but were enraged after the eventual national champions threw a long touchdown pass in the game's final minutes. ASU quarterback Jake Plummer led the Sun Devils, propelling Arizona State into the Rose Bowl against the Ohio State Buckeyes. Had the Sun Devils won, they would have had a very good chance of winning at least a share of the national championship, as they would have been the only undefeated major-college team in the nation. The Sun Devils led 17–14 with 1:47 left in the fourth quarter, but surrendered a late touchdown to Ohio State, falling by a final score of 20–17. As it turned out, Florida State lost in the Sugar Bowl to the Florida Gators; had the Sun Devils won, they would have had a perfect 12–0 record while the Gators would have finished with one regular season loss (to the Seminoles).

Schedule

The Sun Devils finished the season with an 11–1 record.

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 77:00 PMWashingtonNo. 20
FSNW 45–4273,379
September 147:00 PMNorth Texas*No. 18
  • Sun Devil Stadium
  • Tempe, Arizona
W 52–746,173
September 217:15 PMNo. 1 Nebraska*No. 17
  • Sun Devil Stadium
  • Tempe, Arizona
FSNW 19–074,089
September 283:30 PMOregonNo. 6
  • Sun Devil Stadium
  • Tempe, Arizona
FSNW 48–2754,618
October 57:00 PMBoise State*No. 5
  • Sun Devil Stadium
  • Tempe, Arizona
W 56–749,018
October 1212:30 PMat UCLANo. 4
ABCW 42–3466,107
October 1912:30 PMUSCNo. 4
  • Sun Devil Stadium
  • Tempe, Arizona
ABCW 48–35 2OT74,947
October 2612:30 PMat StanfordNo. 4
ABCW 41–932,550
November 22:00 PMat Oregon StateNo. 4
W 29–1421,946
November 94:30 PMCaliforniaNo. 4
  • Sun Devil Stadium
  • Tempe, Arizona
FSNW 35–774,963
November 234:30 PMat ArizonaNo. 4
FSNW 56–1459,920
January 11:30 PMvs. No. 4 Ohio State*No. 2
ABCL 17–20100,635

Roster
1996 Arizona State Sun Devils football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
TE Kendrick Bates
RB 8 Terry Battle Sr
WR 24 Ricky Boyer So
TE 82 Steve Bush Sr
QB 11 Steve Campbell So
RB Marlon Farlow
QB Gus Farwell
OT 70 Glen Gable Jr
RB 39 Scott Hansen Jr
WR 83 Lenzie Jackson So
TE 87 Brian Jennings Fr
TE 88 Devin Kendall Sr
RB 29 Michael Martin Jr
WR 81 Kenny Mitchell So
RB Mike Morales
OG 56 Kyle Murphy Jr
WR 7 Isaiah Mustafa
FB 44 Jeff Paulk So
QB 16 Jake Plummer Sr
WR 3 Keith Poole Sr
RB 21 J. R. Redmond Fr
C 65 Kirk Robertson Sr
OL Zack Romero
OT 74 Juan Roque Sr
OG 51 Grey Ruegamer So
OT 71 Marvel Smith Fr
WR Craig Spenn
OL 67 Pat Thompson Sr
RB Kevin Tommasini
 Defense
Pos.#NameClass
DE 98 Vincent Amey Jr
DL Albrey Battle
DE 55 Dave Baumgartner Sr
DT 94 Brent Burnstein Sr
DE 93 Malchi Crawford Jr
LB 47 Chris Finn Sr
DB Mitchell Freedman
DB Courtney Jackson
DB 39 Damien Richardson Jr
LB 59 Derrick Rodgers Sr
DT 92 Jeremy Staat Jr
CB 10 Jason Simmons Sr
S 9 Thomas Simmons Jr
LB 36 Derek Smith Sr
DB Marcus Soward
DT 99 Shawn Swayda Sr
DB 42 Pat Tillman Jr
DB, RB 22 Raenaurd Turpin Sr
LB 50 Scott Von der Ahe Sr
 Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
P 17 Lance Anderson Jr
K 41 Robert Nycz Jr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured
  • Redshirt

Roster

Rankings
Main article: 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 20 20 20 18 17 6 (1) 5 (1) 4 (1) 4 (1) 4 (1) 4 (1) 4 (1) 4 (2) 4 (2) 3 (3) 2 (5) 2 (5) 4 
Coaches Poll NR – NR 23 22 12 7 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 3 (3) 2 (6) 2 (5) 4

Game summaries

Washington
See also: 1996 Washington Huskies football team
Washington Huskies (0–0) at #20 Arizona State Sun Devils (0–0)
1 2 34Total
Washington 7 7 72142
Arizona St 7 7 141745

at Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona

  • Date: September 21, 1996
  • Game weather: 95 °F (35 °C)
  • Game attendance: 73,379

[1]

North Texas
See also: North Texas Mean Green football
Overall record Last meeting Result
2–1 1956 W 27–7

Nebraska
Nebraska at Arizona State
1 234Total
No. 1 Cornhuskers 0 000 0
• No. 17 Sun Devils 9 802 19
See also: 1996 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
1–5 1995 L 28–77

[2][3][4]

Oregon
See also: 1996 Oregon Ducks football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
11–5 1995 W 35–24

[5]

Boise State
See also: 1996 Boise State Broncos football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
First meeting

[6]

at UCLA
Arizona State at UCLA
1 234Total
• No. 4 Sun Devils 7 7721 42
Bruins 21 760 34
  • Date: October 12
  • Location: Rose Bowl, Los Angeles, California
  • Game attendance: 66,107
See also: 1996 UCLA Bruins football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
4–10–1 1995 W 37–33

[7]

USC
See also: 1996 USC Trojans football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
6–6 1995 L 0–31

[8]

at Stanford
See also: 1996 Stanford Cardinal football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
8–4 1995 L 28–30

[9]

at Oregon State
Arizona State at Oregon State
1 234Total
• No. 4 Sun Devils 6 3137 29
Beavers 0 1400 14
See also: 1996 Oregon State Beavers football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
17–6–1 1995 W 20–11

[10]

California
California at Arizona State
1 234Total
Golden Bears 7 000 7
• No. 20 Sun Devils 0 14714 35
See also: 1996 California Golden Bears football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
9–8 1995 W 38–29

[11]

at Arizona
See also: 1996 Arizona Wildcats 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
  • Bruce Snyder's 100th career win
  • Terry Battle passes 1,000 yards rushing for the season (ASU – 450 rush yards)

[12]

vs. Ohio State (Rose Bowl)
Ohio State vs. Arizona State
1 234Total
• No. 4 Buckeyes 7 076 20
No. 2 Sun Devils 0 737 17
Main article: 1997 Rose Bowl
See also: 1996 Ohio State Buckeyes football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
0–1 1980 L 21–38

[13]

Awards and honors

1996 Team Players in the NFL

The following players were claimed in the 1997 NFL Draft.

PlayerPositionRoundPickNFL Club
Juan RoqueTackle235Detroit Lions
Jake PlummerQuarterback242Arizona Cardinals
Derek M. SmithOutside Linebacker380Washington Redskins
Derrick RodgersOutside Linebacker392Miami Dolphins
Keith PooleWide receiver4116New Orleans Saints
Scott Von der AheLinebacker6182Indianapolis Colts
Shawn SwaydaDefensive tackle6196Chicago Bears
Terry BattleRunning back7206Detroit Lions

[15]

References
  1. "Arizona St. 45, Washington 42". The Washington Post. September 8, 1996. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  2. "Sun Devils Become Cornshockers: Arizona State Ends Nebraska's 26-Game Winning Streak, 19-0". The Spokesman-Review. September 22, 1996. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  3. "ARIZONA STATE SHOCKS NO. 1 NEBRASKA, 19-0". The Buffalo News. September 21, 1996. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  4. "DEVIL OF AN UPSET". Sports Illustrated. September 30, 1996. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  5. "No Letdown for Arizona State". Los Angeles Times. September 29, 1996. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  6. "Arizona State Is Still Running in High Gear, 56-7". Los Angeles Times. October 6, 1996. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  7. "Sun Devils Survive UCLA Scare: Plummer Spearheads Late Rally To Keep Arizona State Unbeaten". The Spokesman-Review. October 13, 1996. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  8. "ARIZONA ST. 48, USC 35". Chicago Tribune. October 20, 1996. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  9. "Arizona State Routs Stanford, 41-9". Los Angeles Times. October 27, 1996. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  10. "Arizona St. 29, Oregon St. 14". The Washington Post. November 2, 1996. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  11. "Sun Devils Clinch Title: Easy Win Puts Asu In Rose Bowl". The Spokesman-Review. November 10, 1996. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  12. "Arizona State Flattens Arizona". The Spokesman-Review. November 24, 1996. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  13. "Time Runs Out on Sun Devils' National Title Bid". The New York Times. January 2, 1997. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  14. http://www.nssahalloffame.com/72/index.aspx
  15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-10-05. Retrieved 2015-11-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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