1996 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

NCAATeamFootballSeason
Year=1996
Team=Ohio State Buckeyes


Conference=Big Ten Conference
ShortConference=Big Ten
CoachRank=2
APRank=2
Record=11-1
ConfRecord=7-1
HeadCoach=John Cooper
OffCoach=
DefCoach=
OScheme=
DScheme=
StadiumArena=Ohio Stadium
Champion=Big Ten Champions
BowlTourney=1997 Rose Bowl
BowlTourneyResult= W 20-17 Arizona StateThe 1996 Ohio State Buckeyes football team represented the Ohio State University in the college football season of 1996-1997. The team's head football coach was John Cooper. The Buckeyes played their home games in Ohio Stadium. The team finished the season with a win-loss record of 11 and 1, and a Big Ten Conference record of 7-1. They finished co-champions in the Big Ten Conference with the Northwestern Wildcats and played in the 1997 Rose Bowl against Pac-10 Champion the Arizona State Sun Devils. Ohio State did not play Northwestern during the regular season and were selected to play in the Rose Bowl due to their better overall record of 10-1 (the Wildcats were 9-2). Northwestern had played in the previous Rose Bowl.

The Buckeyes used two quarterbacks throughout the year, junior Stanley Jackson, and sophomore Joe Germaine, the Buckeyes were dominate throughout the majority of the season, outscoring their opponents by a score of 455-131. The Buckeyes only loss came late in the season to their rivals the Michigan Wolverines by a score of 13-9.

Because of the late loss, Ohio State fell from second to fourth in the polls. Due to the Big Ten and Pac-10 not being involved in the Bowl Alliance agreement as the two champions were contractually obligated to play in the Rose Bowl, Ohio State was set to play #2 Arizona State, while #1 Florida State and #3 Florida played for the National Championship in the 1997 Sugar Bowl.

Ohio State went into the 1997 Rose Bowl with high hopes and Germaine came off the bench and threw a late touchdown pass to David Boston to steal a come-from-behind victory. With the Buckeyes dramatic upset victory over the Sun Devils, Buckeye fans hoped for a share of the national title. However, Florida would later avenge an early season loss to their rivals, and beat the Seminoles by a score of 52-20. Florida finished first and Ohio State second in both polls, followed by Florida State and Arizona State.

The Rose Bowl appearance was the Buckeyes first since 1985. The Rose Bowl victory was the sixth in school history, the first since 1974. Germaine was named Rose Bowl MVP.

chedule

CFB Schedule Entry
date = 09/07/1996
time =
w/l = w
nonconf = yes
homecoming =
away =
neutral =
rank = 10
opponent = Rice
opprank =
site_stadium = Ohio Stadium
site_cityst = Columbus, OH
gamename =
tv = Creative
score = 70-7
overtime =CFB Schedule Entry
date = 09/21/1996
time =
w/l = w
nonconf = yes
homecoming =
away =
neutral =
rank = 7
opponent = Pittsburgh
opprank =
site_stadium = Ohio Stadium
site_cityst = Columbus, OH
gamename =
tv = ESPN
score = 72-0
overtime =CFB Schedule Entry
date = 09/28/1996
time =
w/l = w
nonconf = yes
homecoming =
away = y
neutral =
rank = 4
opponent = Notre Dame
opprank = 5
site_stadium = Notre Dame Stadium
site_cityst = South Bend, IN
gamename =
tv = NBC
score = 29-16
overtime = CFB Schedule Entry
date = 10/05/1996
time =
w/l = w
nonconf =
homecoming =
away =
neutral =
rank = 3
opponent = Penn State
opprank = 4
site_stadium = Ohio Stadium
site_cityst = Columbus, Ohio|Columbus, OH
gamename =
tv = ABC
score = 38-7
overtime =CFB Schedule Entry
date = 10/12/1996
time =
w/l = w
nonconf =
homecoming =
away =
neutral =
rank = 2
opponent = Wisconsin
opprank =
site_stadium = Ohio Stadium
site_cityst = Columbus, Ohio|Columbus, OH
gamename =
tv = ESPN
score = 17-14
overtime =CFB Schedule Entry
date = 10/19/1996
time =
w/l = w
nonconf =
homecoming =
away = y
neutral =
rank = 2
opponent = Purdue
opprank =
site_stadium = Ross-Ade Stadium
site_cityst = West Lafayette, IN
gamename =
tv = ABC
score = 42-14
overtime =CFB Schedule Entry
date = 10/26/1996
time =
w/l = w
nonconf =
homecoming =
away = y
neutral =
rank = 2
opponent = Iowa
opprank = 20
site_stadium = Kinnick Stadium
site_cityst = Iowa City, IA
gamename =
tv = ABC
score = 38-26
overtime =CFB Schedule Entry
date = 11/02/1996
time =
w/l = w
nonconf =
homecoming =
away =
neutral =
rank = 2
opponent = Minnesota
opprank =
site_stadium = Ohio Stadium
site_cityst = Columbus, Ohio|Columbus, OH
gamename =
tv = ESPN2
score = 45-0
overtime =CFB Schedule Entry
date = 11/09/1996
time =
w/l = w
nonconf =
homecoming =
away =
neutral =
rank = 2
opponent = Illinois
opprank =
site_stadium = Memorial Stadium
site_cityst = Champaign, IL
gamename =
tv = ESPN
score = 48-0
overtime =CFB Schedule Entry
date = 11/16/1996
time =
w/l = w
nonconf =
homecoming =
away = y
neutral =
rank = 2
opponent = Indiana
opprank =
site_stadium = Memorial Stadium
site_cityst = Bloomington, IN
gamename =
tv = ABC
score = 27-17
overtime =CFB Schedule Entry
date = 11/23/1996
time =
w/l = l
nonconf =
homecoming =
away =
neutral =
rank = 2
opponent = Michigan
opprank = 21
site_stadium = Ohio Stadium
site_cityst = Columbus, Ohio|Columbus, OH
gamename =
tv = ABC
score = 9-13
overtime = CFB Schedule Entry
date = 01/01/1997
time =
w/l = w
nonconf = yes
homecoming =
away =
neutral = yes
rank = 4
opponent = Arizona State
opprank = 2
site_stadium = Rose Bowl Stadium
site_cityst = Pasadena, CA
gamename = 1997 Rose Bowl
tv = ABC
score = 20-17
overtime =

Game notes

Rice

Linescore Amfootball
Road=Owls
R1=0
R2=7
R3=0
R4=0
Home=Buckeyes
H1=21
H2=21
H3=21
H4=7

Pittsburgh

Linescore Amfootball
Road=Panthers
R1=0
R2=0
R3=0
R4=0
Home=Buckeyes
H1=21
H2=31
H3=13
H4=7

Notre Dame

Linescore Amfootball
Road=Buckeyes
R1=12
R2=10
R3=7
R4=0
Home=Fighting Irish
H1=7
H2=0
H3=3
H4=6

Penn State

Linescore Amfootball
Road=Nittany Lions
R1=0
R2=0
R3=0
R4=7
Home=Buckeyes
H1=10
H2=14
H3=7
H4=7

Wisconsin

Linescore Amfootball
Road=Badgers
R1=0
R2=7
R3=0
R4=7
Home=Buckeyes
H1=0
H2=3
H3=7
H4=7

Purdue

Linescore Amfootball
Road=Buckeyes
R1=7
R2=7
R3=14
R4=14
Home=Boilermakers
H1=14
H2=0
H3=0
H4=0

Iowa

Linescore Amfootball
Road=Buckeyes
R1=17
R2=14
R3=7
R4=0
Home=Hawkeyes
H1=3
H2=3
H3=6
H4=14

Minnesota

Linescore Amfootball
Road=Golden Gophers
R1=0
R2=0
R3=0
R4=0
Home=Buckeyes
H1=0
H2=10
H3=21
H4=14

Illinois

Linescore Amfootball
Road=Buckeyes
R1=0
R2=28
R3=20
R4=0
Home=Fighting Illini
H1=0
H2=0
H3=0
H4=0

Indiana

Linescore Amfootball
Road=Buckeyes
R1=0
R2=7
R3=0
R4=20
Home=Hoosiers
H1=0
H2=3
H3=7
H4=7

Michigan

Linescore Amfootball
Road=Wolverines
R1=0
R2=0
R3=10
R4=3
Home=Buckeyes
H1=3
H2=6
H3=0
H4=0

Arizona State

Linescore Amfootball
Road=Buckeyes
R1=7
R2=0
R3=7
R4=6
Home=Sun Devils
H1=0
H2=7
H3=3
H4=7

References

Citation
last = Buckeye Sports Bulletin
first =
author-link =
last2 =
first2 =
author2-link =
title = Rose Bowl Championship Yearbook
newspaper =
pages =
year = 1997
date =
url = .