1996 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

1996 Illinois Fighting Illini football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
1996 record	2–9 (1–7 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lou Tepper (5th season)
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 70,904)
Seasons

1996 Big Ten football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
#2/2 Ohio State §		7	–	1					11	–	1
#15/16 Northwestern §		7	–	1					9	–	3
#7/7 Penn State		6	–	2					11	–	2
#18/18 Iowa		6	–	2					9	–	3
#20/20 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 / Coaches' Poll

The 1996 Illinois Fighting Illini football team represented the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign during the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. They participated as members of the Big Ten Conference. Their home games were played at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois. The team's head coach was Lou Tepper, who was fired as head coach of the Illini after the end of the season. Illinois had a record of 2–9 and failed to make a bowl game.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	2:30 PM	at No. 12 Michigan	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, Michigan	ABC	L 8–20	105,992
September 7	2:30 PM	No. 19 USC*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, Illinois	ABC	L 3–55	56,504
September 14	9:00 PM	at Arizona*	Arizona Stadium Tucson, Arizona	FSN	L 0–41	43,012
September 21	1:00 PM	Akron*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, Illinois		W 38–7	48,285
October 5	1:00 PM	Indiana	Memorial Stadium Champaign, Illinois		W 46–43	55,534
October 12	11:20 AM	at Michigan State	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, Michigan	ESPN+	L 14–42	71,639
October 26	11:20 AM	at No. 11 Northwestern	Dyche Stadium Evanston, Illinois (Sweet Sioux Tomahawk)	ESPN+	L 24–27	48,187
November 2	11:20 AM	No. 25 Iowa	Memorial Stadium Champaign, Illinois	ESPN+	L 21–31	54,381
November 9	11:30 AM	No. 2 Ohio State	Memorial Stadium Champaign, Illinois	ESPN	L 0–48	54,412
November 16	6:00 PM	at Minnesota	Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome Minneapolis		L 21–23	34,321
November 23	1:00 PM	Wisconsin	Memorial Stadium Champaign, Illinois		L 15–35	37,814
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Roster

1996 Illinois Fighting Illini football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 15 Cella, JustinJustin Cella 1.0 !Fr TE 86 Cushing, MattMatt Cushing 5.0 !Jr TE 87 Day, MarkMark Day 5.0 !Jr WR 1 Dean, MichaelMichael Dean 1.0 !Fr RB 7 Douthard, TyTy Douthard 7.0 !Sr WR 83 Dulick, JasonJason Dulick 7.0 !Sr RB 35 Holcombe, RobertRobert Holcombe 5.0 !Jr QB 9 Johnson, KirkKirk Johnson 1.0 !Fr C 69 Koerwitz, ChrisChris Koerwitz 7.0 !Sr OL 72 Kuchenbecker, JayJay Kuchenbecker 7.0 !Sr OL 67 Machado, J. P.J. P. Machado 3.0 !So WR 22 Majoy, RobRob Majoy 3.0 !So OL 60 Schau, RyanRyan Schau 3.0 !So OL 62 Schau, TomTom Schau 3.0 !So QB 11 Weaver, ScottScott Weaver 7.0 !Sr	Defense 41 Eric Guenther LB 6-2 225 So. Thousand Oaks, Calif. / Westlake 39 Mike Gusich DB 5-11 178 So. Cincinnati, Ohio / St. Xavier 76 Tremaine Halley DT 6-0 253 Fr. Chicago, Ill. / Lane Tech Pos. # Name Class LB 48 Clark, DannyDanny Clark 1.0 !Fr DL 92 Claussen, TomTom Claussen 7.0 !Sr DL 66 Johnson, GarrettGarrett Johnson 3.0 !So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Lou Tepper Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster