1996 Purdue Boilermakers football team

The 1996 Purdue Boilermakers football team represented Purdue University as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by Jim Colletto in his sixth and final season as head coach, the Boilermakers compiled an overall record of 3–8 with a mark of 2–6 in conference play, placing eighth in the Big Ten. Purdue played home games at Ross–Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Purdue started the season 0–3, averaging under seven points per game. Over the final eight games the Boilermakers went 3–5, failing to qualify for a bowl game for the 12 straight season. The Boilermakers also failed to win a road game.

Brian Alford received numerous postseason accolades, including First Team All-Big Ten honors by both the coaches and the media, and broke the Purdue record for most receiving touchdowns in a single season. Senior captain Emmett Zitelli was selected to the Second Team All-Big team by both the coaches and the media. After the season, none of the Boilermakers were selected in the 1997 NFL draft, Zitelli signed as an undrafted free agent.

In 1995 the Purdue Boilermakers had the second best season in the Colletto era. The team finished with a 4–6–1 regular season record, failing to qualify for a postseason bowl game for the 11th straight year. The Boilermakers struggled to win games, facing what was rated as the third most difficult schedule in the nation in 1995.^[1] However, Purdue did finish first in the Big Ten in rushing offense.^[2]

Going into 1996, there was doubt that Purdue could successfully replace all-time leading rusher Mike Alstott and have a winning season.^[3] Entering the season, Colletto thought that each of his quarterbacks would be a contributor on offense, electing Rick Trefzger as the team's starting quarterback, and moving former tailback, Edwin Watson to fullback to replace Alstott.^[4]

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
August 31	12:30 pm	at Michigan State	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	ESPN	L 14–52	72,511
September 14	2:30 pm	at No. 9 Notre Dame*	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	NBC	L 0–35	59,075
September 21	7:00 pm	West Virginia*	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN		L 6–20	39,445	[5]
September 28	12:00 pm	NC State*	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	ESPN Plus	W 42–21	39,739	[6]
October 5	2:00 pm	Minnesota	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN		W 30–27	45,805
October 12	12:30 pm	at No. 10 Penn State	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ESPN	L 14–31	96,653
October 19	3:30 pm	No. 2 Ohio State	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	ABC	L 14–42	58,323
November 2	12:30 pm	at Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ESPN	L 25–33	78,330
November 9	12:30 pm	No. 9 Michigan	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	ESPN2	W 9–3	39,328
November 16	12:00 pm	at No. 13 Northwestern	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL		L 24–27	41,178
November 23	1:00 pm	Indiana	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN (Old Oaken Bucket)		L 16–33	49,197
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

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1996 Purdue Boilermakers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 1 Donald Winston Fr QB 3 John Reeves  So WR 5 Willie Tillman Jr WR 6 Isaac Jones Jr QB 12 Billy Dicken  Jr QB 13 Rick Trefzger Sr FB 16 Eric Haddad Jr WR 20 Chris Daniels  Fr WR 24 Kirk Olivadotti Sr RB 25 Curtis Taylor Jr FB 36 Edwin Watson Jr FB 37 Dartanian Sanders Sr RB 43 Kendall Matthews Sr FB 45 Cullen Bryant Jr. Fr OT 52 Nick Sweeney So OT 54 Mark Fischer Sr G 56 Chukky Okobi Fr C 63 Jim Niedrach So G 72 Emmett Zitelli Sr OT 73 David Cohen So G 74 Wayne Finchum So G 76 Dan Maly So C 78 Brian Nicely So OT 79 Chad Manning So WR 80 Brian Alford  Jr TE 81 Brandon Jewell Sr TE 90 Pete VanderWeele Jr TE 91 Matt Light Fr	Defense Pos. # Name Class FS 2 Derrick Brown Jr CB 4 Derrick Winston Sr SS 7 Adrian Beasley So DB 10 Lee Brush Jr FS 11 Michael Hawthorne So CB 14 Jamel Coleman Jr LB 19 Joe Hagins Sr DB 22 Lamar Conard Fr SS 23 Willie Burroughs Jr CB 27 Willie Washington Fr LB 28 Mike Rose Fr DB 29 Reggie Johnson LB 32 Noble Jones So LB 34 Chike Okeafor Jr CB 38 Bryce Gillins Fr LB 29 Nick Zitelli DB 46 Glenn Davis LB 48 Chris Koeppen Sr DE 49 Chukie Nwokorie So LB 51 Troy Bacon DT 53 Jon Krick Sr LB 57 Ray Lee So DE 58 Craig Williams Sr DE 59 Rosevelt Colvin So DT 71 Anthony Gutwein Jr DE 82 David Nugent Fr LB 86 Scott Dobbins DT 97 Greg Smith Sr DT 98 Leo Perez Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class PK 17 Chris Arnce Jr P 26 Danny Rogers Fr P 29 Brandon Kaser So PK 96 Shane Ryan Fr	Head coach Jim Colletto Coordinators/assistant coaches Tim Salem (offensive coordinator) Bob Morris (co-defensive coordinator, defensive backs) Ty Smith (co-defensive coordinator, linebackers) Chester Caddas (defensive line) Randy Fichtner (wide receivers, recruiting coordinator) Tom Freeman (offensive line) Leroy Keyes (running backs) Karl Morgan (defensive line) Kurt Van Valkenburgh (defensive backs) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

• Edwin Watson 29 rushes, 227 yards

• Kendall Matthews 30 rushes, 131 yards

Purdue's first win versus Michigan since 1984

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