1996 Arizona Wildcats football team

1996 Arizona Wildcats football
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Record	5–6 (3–5 Pac-10)
Head coach	Dick Tomey (10th season)
Offensive coordinator	Homer Smith (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Larry Mac Duff (10th season)
Home stadium	Arizona Stadium

1996 Pacific-10 Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 4 Arizona State $		8	–	0					11	–	1
No. 16 Washington		7	–	1					9	–	3
Stanford		5	–	3					7	–	5
UCLA		4	–	4					5	–	6
Oregon		3	–	5					6	–	5
California		3	–	5					6	–	6
USC		3	–	5					6	–	6
Arizona		3	–	5					5	–	6
Washington State		3	–	5					5	–	6
Oregon State		1	–	7					2	–	9
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1996 Arizona Wildcats football team represented the University of Arizona in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) during the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their tenth season under head coach Dick Tomey, the Wildcats compiled a 5–6 record (3–5 against Pac-10 opponents), finished in a tie for fifth place in the Pac-10, and outscored their opponents, 310 to 280.

The team played its home games in Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Arizona. On November 23, 1996, the team drew a record crowd of 59,920 to Arizona Stadium to watch a 56-14 loss to Arizona State. As of September 2016, this remains the Arizona Stadium attendance record. The Wildcats allowed 450 rushing yards in the loss to the Sun Devils. The highlight of the Arizona State game for the Wildcats was a 98-yard interception return, the second longest in program history, by Mikal Smith.

Team records set during the 1996 season included: three interception returns for touchdown in a game (vs. Illinois); eight touchdowns allowed in a game (vs. California); 16 touchdowns scored in a Pac-10 game (vs. UCLA); 659 yards of total offense allowed in a Pac-10 game (vs. California); and 450 rushing yards allowed in a Pac-10 game (vs. Arizona State).

The team's statistical leaders included Keith Smith with 1,450 passing yards, Gary Taylor with 564 rushing yards, and Jeremy McDaniel with 607 receiving yards. Linebacker Chester Burnett led the team with 124 tackles.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
August 31	UTEP	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	W 23–3	40,388
September 7	at Iowa	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	L 20–21	68,267
September 14	Illinois	Arizona Stadium Tucson	W 41–0	43,012
September 21	at No. 24 Washington	Husky Stadium Seattle	L 17–31	73,414
October 5	Washington State	Arizona Stadium Tucson	W 34–26	47,405
October 12	at USC	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles	L 7–14	51,088
October 26	Oregon State	Arizona Stadium Tucson	W 33–7	43,716
November 2	at California	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	L 55–56 (4OT)	35,000
November 9	at Oregon	Autzen Stadium Eugene, OR	L 31–49	40,721
November 16	UCLA	Arizona Stadium Tucson	W 35–17	47,171
November 23	Arizona State	Arizona Stadium Tucson (rivalry)	L 14–56	59,920
Rankings from Coaches' Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1996 Arizona Wildcats football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB Brady Batten WR Brad Brennan RB Leon Callen RB Trung Canidate WR Richard Dice RB Kelvin Eafon QB 14 Ryan Hesson Sr WR 5 Ron Holmes So OL Rusty James QB 19 Dan Loyd Fr TE 88 Mike Lucky So TE 96 Jeff Malone Jr WR Jeremy McDaniel TE Michael Metzler OL 73 Frank Middleton Sr RB Charles Myles RB 33 Dennis Northcutt Fr OL Jose Portilla RB Kevin Schmidtke OL Yusef Scott QB Keith Smith RB Scooter Sprotte RB Gary Taylor OL Ryan Turley OL Willie Walker WR Rodney Williams OL Wayne Wyatt	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 40 Marcus Bell Fr LB 35 Chester Burnett Jr DB David Fipp DB Leland Gayles DL Daniel Greer DL Tyrone Gunn DB Kelly Malveaux CB 11 Chris McAlister Jr LB 31 DaShon Polk So DT 56 Joe Salave'a Sr DB Mikal Smith LB Jimmy Sprotte LB Mike Szlauko DL Steve Tafua DE 90 Van Tuinei Sr DL Chiuma Ugwu LB Armon Williams	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K Matt Peyton	Head coach Dick Tomey Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster

Season summary

Arizona State

See also: 1996 Arizona State Sun Devils football team and Duel in the Desert

#4 Arizona State Sun Devils (10–0) at Arizona Wildcats (5–5)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Arizona St	7	21	14	14	56
Arizona	0	7	0	7	14

at Arizona Stadium, Tucson, Arizona

• Date: November 23, 1996
• Game weather: Cloudy, 62 °F (17 °C)
• Game attendance: 59,920
• Recap/Box Score

Game information

First quarter ASU – Terry Battle 20-yard run (Robert Nycz kick), 0:15. Arizona St 7–0. Drive: 3 plays, 34 yards, 0:59. Second quarter ASU – Terry Battle 4-yard run (Robert Nycz kick), 12:17. Arizona St 14–0. Drive: 2 plays, 5 yards, 0:32. ARIZ – Keith Smith 1-yard run (Matt Peyton kick), 8:20. Arizona St 14–7. Drive: 7 plays, 70 yards, 3:57. ASU – Keith Poole 27-yard pass from Jake Plummer (Robert Nycz kick), 7:13. Arizona St 21–7. Drive: 3 plays, 75 yards, 1:07. ASU – Terry Battle 1-yard run (Robert Nycz kick), 1:17. Arizona St 28–7. Drive: 6 plays, 73 yards, 1:45. Third quarter ASU – Keith Poole 40-yard pass from Jake Plummer (Robert Nycz kick), 10:22. Arizona St 35–7. Drive: 7 plays, 69 yards, 2:30. ASU – Steve Bush 10-yard pass from Jake Plummer (Robert Nycz kick), 0:39. Arizona St 42–7. Drive: 8 plays, 53 yards, 3:24. Fourth quarter ARIZ – Mikal Smith 98-yard interception return (Matt Peyton kick), 12:18. Arizona St 42–14. ASU – Marlon Farlow 1-yard run (Robert Nycz kick), 10:47. Arizona St 49–14. Drive: 5 plays, 56 yards, 1:31. ASU – Marlon Farlow 8-yard run (Robert Nycz kick), 1:06. Arizona St 56–14. Drive: 11 plays, 85 yards, 7:27. Top passers ASU – Jake Plummer – 10/19, 201 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT ARIZ – Keith Smith – 6/15, 91 yards, INT Top rushers ASU – Terry Battle – 23 rushes, 143 yards, 3 TD ARIZ – Leon Callen – 6 rushes, 19 yards Top receivers ASU – Keith Poole – 4 receptions, 123 yards, 2 TD ARIZ – Jeremy McDaniel – 2 receptions, 54 yards