1996 North Carolina Tar Heels football team

1996 North Carolina Tar Heels football
Gator Bowl champion
Gator Bowl, W 20–13 vs. West Virginia
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 10
AP	No. 10
1996 record	10–2 (6–2 ACC)
Head coach	Mack Brown (9th season)
Offensive coordinator	Greg Davis (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Carl Torbush (9th season)
Home stadium	Kenan Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 52,000)
Seasons

1996 ACC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
#3 Florida State †		8	–	0					11	–	1
#10 North Carolina		6	–	2					10	–	2
Clemson		6	–	2					7	–	5
Virginia		5	–	3					7	–	5
Georgia Tech		4	–	4					5	–	6
Maryland		3	–	5					5	–	6
NC State		3	–	5					3	–	8
Wake Forest		1	–	7					3	–	8
Duke		0	–	8					0	–	11
† – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1996 North Carolina Tar Heels football team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Tar Heels played their home games at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and competed in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The team was led by head coach Mack Brown.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	3:30 p.m.	Clemson		Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC	ABC	W 45–0	47,500
September 7	6:00 p.m.	at No. 9 Syracuse*	No. 24	Carrier Dome Syracuse, NY	ESPN2	W 27–10	48,097
September 21	3:30 p.m.	Georgia Tech	No. 11	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC	ABC	W 16–0	50,000
September 28	3:30 p.m.	at No. 2 Florida State	No. 11	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ABC	L 0–13	80,120
October 5	6:30 p.m.	at Wake Forest	No. 15	Groves Stadium Winston-Salem, NC (rivalry)		W 45–6	25,681
October 12	7:00 p.m.	Maryland	No. 13	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC	ESPN2	W 38–7	47,000
October 26	6:30 p.m.	at Houston*	No. 9	Astrodome Houston, TX		W 42–14	16,850
November 2	12:00 p.m.	NC State	No. 8	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (Carolina-–State rivalry)	JPS	W 52–20	47,000
November 9	1:30 p.m.	Louisville*	No. 8	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC		W 28–10	46,000
November 16	3:30 p.m.	at No. 24 Virginia	No. 6	Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA (South's Oldest Rivalry)	ABC	L 17–20	42,500
November 23	12:00 p.m.	at Duke	No. 13	Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC (Victory Bell Game)	JPS	W 27–10	30,264
January 1, 1997	12:30 p.m.	vs. No. 25 West Virginia*	No. 12	Jacksonville Municipal Stadium Jacksonville, FL (Gator Bowl)	NBC	W 20–13	52,103
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Roster

1996 North Carolina Tar Heels football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 4 Barnes, OcatvusOcatvus Barnes 5.0 !Jr FB 6 Watson, ChrisChris Watson 7.0 !Sr TB 12 Johnson, LeonLeon Johnson 7.0 !Sr QB 15 Keldorf, ChrisChris Keldorf 5.0 !Jr WR 18 Brown, NaNa Brown 3.0 !So WR 23 Stevens, LCLC Stevens 3.0 !So RB 27 Linton, JonathanJonathan Linton 5.0 !Jr OT 51 Baxter, MikeMike Baxter 5.0 !Jr OG 63 Hobgood, MikeMike Hobgood 5.0 !Jr C 64 Saturday, JeffJeff Saturday 5.0 !Jr OG 74 Gethers, JernessJerness Gethers 7.0 !Sr OT 75 Thomas, ByronByron Thomas 7.0 !Sr TE 86 Ekuban, EbenezerEbenezer Ekuban 3.0 !So TE 92 Jones, FreddieFreddie Jones 7.0 !Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class S 2 Brown, OmarOmar Brown 5.0 !Jr S 3 Williams, GregGreg Williams 5.0 !Jr LB 9 Newman, KeithKeith Newman 3.0 !So CB 29 Williams, RobertRobert Williams 3.0 !So CB 31 Bly, DréDré Bly File:Redshirt.svg 1.5 !Fr LB 53 Mays, KivuusamaKivuusama Mays 5.0 !Jr LB 54 Hamilton, JamesJames Hamilton 7.0 !Sr DT 70 Purvis, AndreAndre Purvis 7.0 !Sr DT 84 Hobgood-Chittick, NateNate Hobgood-Chittick 5.0 !Jr DT 85 Mintz, ChrisChris Mintz File:Redshirt.svg 1.5 !Fr DE 87 Ellis, GregGreg Ellis 5.0 !Jr DT 90 Holliday, VonnieVonnie Holliday 5.0 !Jr DE 91 Pringley, MikeMike Pringley 3.0 !So DT 94 Terry, RickRick Terry 7.0 !Sr DE 96 Davis, RussellRussell Davis 3.0 !So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 40 Secrest, DavidDavid Secrest 7.0 !Sr	Head coach Mack Brown Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster