1996 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

	1996 Division I-A independents football records
	Rankings from AP Poll

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
	1996 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 21
AP	No. 19
1996 record	8–3
Head coach	Lou Holtz (11th season)
Offensive coordinator	Dave Roberts
Defensive coordinator	Bob Davie
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium (c. 59,075, grass)
	Seasons ← 1995 1997 →

The 1996 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame in the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season.^[1] The team was coached by Lou Holtz and played its home games at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.

Notre Dame participated in the Emerald Isle Classic (Billed as the Shamrock Classic that year). The game was played in Dublin on November 2 at Croke Park, where Notre Dame beat Navy by a score of 54–27.

Despite finishing the regular season 8-3, Notre Dame did not play in a bowl game. The Fighting Irish turned down an invitation to play the Auburn Tigers in the Independence Bowl, believing that Auburn was an unworthy opponent and that the Independence Bowl was an unworthy bowl destination.

Rivalries[]

In the Holy War match against Boston College, Notre Dame beat BC to claim the Frank Leahy Memorial Bowl.
Notre Dame beat Purdue to claim the Shillelagh Trophy.
Notre Dame loses to USC in overtime, snapping a 13-game unbeaten streak against the Trojans.

Schedule[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 5	8:00 p.m.	at Vanderbilt	No. 6	Vanderbilt Stadium Nashville, TN	ESPN	W 14–7	41,523
September 14	2:30 p.m.	Purdue	No. 9	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (Shillelagh Trophy)	NBC	W 35–0	59,075
September 21	12:00 p.m.	at No. 6 Texas	No. 9	Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX	ABC	W 27–24	83,312
September 28	2:30 p.m.	No. 4 Ohio State	No. 5	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN	NBC	L 16–29	59,075
October 12	2:30 p.m.	No. 16 Washington	No. 11	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN	NBC	W 54–20	59,075
October 19	2:30 p.m.	Air Force	No. 8	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN	NBC	L 17–20 ^OT	59,075
November 2	8:00 a.m.	at Navy	No. 19	Croke Park Dublin, Ireland (Emerald Isle Classic/rivalry)	CBS	W 54–27	38,651
November 9	3:30 p.m.	at Boston College	No. 17	Alumni Stadium Chestnut Hill, MA (Holy War)	CBS	W 48–21	44,500
November 16	1:30 p.m.	Pittsburgh	No. 14	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (rivalry)	NBC	W 60–6	59,075
November 23	1:30 p.m.	Rutgers	No. 10	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN	NBC	W 62–0	59,075
November 30	8:00 p.m.	at USC	No. 10	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Jeweled Shillelagh)	ABC	L 20–27 ^OT	90,296
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Roster[]

1996 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
G	`76`	Akers, JeremyJeremy Akers	7.0 !Sr
WR	`88`	Brown, BobbyBobby Brown	3.0 !So
TE	`58`	Burgdorf, MikeMike Burgdorf	7.0 !Sr
TE	`40`	Carretta, KevinKevin Carretta	7.0 !Sr
WR	`18`	Champion, CikaiCikai Champion	7.0 !Sr
TE	`98`	Chryplewicz, PetePete Chryplewicz	7.0 !Sr
T	`75`	Clevenger, ChrisChris Clevenger	7.0 !Sr
RB	`23`	Denson, AutryAutry Denson	3.0 !So
FB	`44`	Edwards, MarcMarc Edwards	7.0 !Sr
RB	`31`	Framer, RobertRobert Framer	7.0 !Sr
QB	`7`	Jackson, JariousJarious Jackson	1.0 !Fr
WR	`83`	Johnson, MalcolmMalcolm Johnson	3.0 !So
RB	`26`	Kinder, RandyRandy Kinder	7.0 !Sr
QB	`14`	McGunigal, TonyTony McGunigal	7.0 !Sr
T	`54`	Petitgout, LukeLuke Petitgout	3.0 !So
QB	`3`	Powlus, RonRon Powlus	7.0 !Sr
G	`79`	Rosenthal, MikeMike Rosenthal	3.0 !So
T	`71`	Wisne, JerryJerry Wisne	3.0 !So

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
DE	`56`	Belisle, KurtKurt Belisle	5.0 !Jr
DE	`95`	Bennett, CoreyCorey Bennett	5.0 !Jr
LB	`13`	Berry, BertrandBertrand Berry	7.0 !Sr
LB	`6`	Cobbins, LyronLyron Cobbins	7.0 !Sr
DE	`51`	Dansby, MelvinMelvin Dansby	7.0 !Sr
LB	`27`	Howard, BobbieBobbie Howard	3.0 !So
LB	`4`	Minor, KoryKory Minor	3.0 !So
CB	`35`	Phelps, RobertRobert Phelps	7.0 !Sr
CB	`15`	Rossum, AllenAllen Rossum	5.0 !Jr
DE	`91`	Smith, DarnellDarnell Smith	7.0 !Sr
CB	`21`	Stephens, ShannonShannon Stephens	3.0 !So
FS	`12`	Strayhorn, MarioMario Strayhorn	3.0 !So
LB	`2`	Tatum, KinnonKinnon Tatum	7.0 !Sr
LB	`49`	Thomas, JoeJoe Thomas	3.0 !So
LB	`43`	Wagasy, BillBill Wagasy	7.0 !Sr
LB	`60`	Wellington, AntwoineAntwoine Wellington	1.0 !Fr
DE	`48`	Wynn, RenaldoRenaldo Wynn	7.0 !Sr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K	`19`	Sanson, JimJim Sanson	1.0 !Fr
P	`8`	Smith, HunterHunter Smith	3.0 !So

Head coach

Lou Holtz

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Dave Roberts – Offensive coordinator
Bob Davie – Defensive coordinator
Urban Meyer – Wide receivers

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Roster

Season summary[]

USC[]

#10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8–2) at USC Trojans (5–6)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Notre Dame	0	7	7	6	20
USC	6	0	0	14	27

at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • Los Angeles, California

Date: November 30
Game attendance: 90,296
TV announcers (ABC): Brent Musburger and Dick Vermeil
USA Today

Game information

Notre Dame

Ron Powlus
8/19, 108 Yds, TD
Autry Denson
33 Rush, 160 Yds, TD
Emmett Mosley
3 Rec, 29 Yds

USC

Brad Otton
13/25, 183 Yds, 2 TD
Delon Washington
15 Rush, 67 Yds, TD
Chris Miller
4 Rec, 69 Yds, TD

Scoring summary

Quarter	Time	Drive			Team	Scoring Information	Score
Quarter	Time	Plays	Yards	TOP	Team	Scoring Information	ND	USC
1					USC	30-yard field goal by Abrams	0	3
1					USC	38-yard field goal by Abrams	0	6
2	14:23				Notre Dame	Spencer 1-yard touchdown run, Sanson kick good	7	6
3	0:23				Notre Dame	Champion 25-yard touchdown reception from Powlus, Sanson kick good	14	6
4					USC	C. Miller 5-yard touchdown reception from Otton, 2-point pass failed	14	12
4	4:52				Notre Dame	Denson 9-yard touchdown run, Sanson kick no good	20	12
4	1:50				USC	Washington 15-yard touchdown run, 2-point run good	20	20
OT					USC	Sermons 5-yard touchdown reception from Otton, Abrams kick good	20	27
"TOP" = Time of Possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football.							20	27

References[]

↑ "Notre Dame Yearly Results (1995-1999)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/active/n/notre_dame/1995-1999_yearly_results.php. Retrieved July 26, 2015.

Template:Collegefootball-1990s-season-stub

[1] "Notre Dame Yearly Results (1995-1999)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/active/n/notre_dame/1995-1999_yearly_results.php. Retrieved July 26, 2015.

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