1996 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

1996 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 21
AP	No. 19
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)

1996 NCAA Division I-A independents football records

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 25 Army			–						10	–	2
Navy			–						9	–	3
No. 19 Notre Dame			–						8	–	3
East Carolina			–						8	–	3
Louisiana Tech			–						6	–	5
UAB			–						5	–	6
UCF			–						5	–	6
Southwestern Louisiana			–						5	–	6
Northeast Louisiana			–						5	–	6
Arkansas State			–						4	–	7
Northern Illinois			–						1	–	10
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1996 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame in the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. 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 Jeremy Akers Sr WR 88 Bobby Brown So TE 58 Mike Burgdorf Sr TE 40 Kevin Carretta Sr WR 18 Cikai Champion Sr TE 98 Pete Chryplewicz Sr OT 75 Chris Clevenger Sr RB 23 Autry Denson So FB 44 Marc Edwards Sr RB 31 Robert Framer Sr QB 7 Jarious Jackson Fr WR 83 Malcolm Johnson So RB 26 Randy Kinder Sr QB 14 A.J. McGunigal Sr OT 54 Luke Petitgout So QB 3 Ron Powlus Sr G 79 Mike Rosenthal So OT 71 Jerry Wisne So	Defense Pos. # Name Class DE 56 Kurt Belisle Jr DE 95 Corey Bennett Jr P 35 Scott Palumbo Sr LB 13 Bertrand Berry Sr LB 6 Lyron Cobbins Sr DE 51 Melvin Dansby Sr LB 27 Bobbie Howard So LB 4 Kory Minor So CB 35 Robert Phelps Sr CB 15 Allen Rossum Jr DE 91 Darnell Smith Sr CB 21 Shannon Stephens So FS 12 Mario Strayhorn So LB 2 Kinnon Tatum Sr LB 49 Joe Thomas So LB 43 Bill Wagasy Sr LB 60 Antwoine Wellington Fr DE 48 Renaldo Wynn Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 19 Jim Sanson Fr P 8 Hunter Smith 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

See also: 1996 USC Trojans football team and Jeweled Shillelagh

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

Quarter	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
Notre Dame	0	7	7	6	0	20
USC	6	0	0	14	7	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 Plays Yards TOP 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