1996 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

American college football season

1996 Illinois Fighting Illini football

Conference| Big Ten Conference
Record| 2–9 (1–7 Big Ten)
Head coach|

* Lou Tepper (5th season)

Offensive coordinator| Paul Schudel (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator| Denny Marcin (5th season)
MVP| Robert Holcombe
Captains|

* Rodney Byrd
* Ty Douthard
* Paul Marshall
* Dennis Stallings

Home stadium| Memorial Stadium

Seasons

← 1995

1997 →

1996 Big Ten Conference football standings

* v
* t
* e

| Conf. |  |  | Overall

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Team |   | W |   | L |   |  |  |   | W |   | L |
No. 2 Ohio State \+  |   | 7  | – | 1  |   |  |  |   | 11  | – | 1  |
No. 15 Northwestern \+  |   | 7  | – | 1  |   |  |  |   | 9  | – | 3  |
No. 7 Penn State |   | 6  | – | 2  |   |  |  |   | 11  | – | 2  |
No. 18 Iowa |   | 6  | – | 2  |   |  |  |   | 9  | – | 3  |
No. 20 Michigan |   | 5  | – | 3  |   |  |  |   | 8  | – | 4  |
Michigan State |   | 5  | – | 3  |   |  |  |   | 6  | – | 6  |
Wisconsin |   | 3  | – | 5  |   |  |  |   | 8  | – | 5  |
Purdue |   | 2  | – | 6  |   |  |  |   | 3  | – | 8  |
Minnesota |   | 1  | – | 7  |   |  |  |   | 4  | – | 7  |
Indiana |   | 1  | – | 7  |   |  |  |   | 3  | – | 8  |
Illinois |   | 1  | – | 7  |   |  |  |   | 2  | – | 9  |

* \+ – Conference co-champions

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1996 Illinois Fighting Illini football team represented the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by Lou Tepper in his fifth and final season as head coach, the Fighting Illini compiled an overall record of 2–9 with a mark of 1–7 in conference play, placing in a three-way tie for ninth at the bottom of the Big Ten standings. The team played home games at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois.

## Schedule

[edit]

Date| Time| Opponent| Site| TV| Result| Attendance

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August 31| 2:30 pm| at No. 12 Michigan|

* Michigan Stadium
* Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)

| ABC| L 8–20| 105,992
September 7| 2:30 pm| No. 19 USC*|

* Memorial Stadium
* Champaign, IL

| ABC| L 3–55| 56,504
September 14| 9:00 pm| at Arizona*|

* Arizona Stadium
* Tucson, AZ

| FSN| L 0–41| 43,012
September 21| 1:00 pm| Akron*|

* Memorial Stadium
* Champaign, IL

| | W 38–7| 48,285
October 5| 1:00 pm| Indiana|

* Memorial Stadium
* Champaign, IL (rivalry)

| | W 46–43 2OT| 55,534
October 12| 11:20 am| at Michigan State|

* Spartan Stadium
* East Lansing, MI

| ESPN Plus| L 14–42| 71,639
October 26| 11:20 am| at No. 11 Northwestern|

* Dyche Stadium
* Evanston, IL (rivalry)

| ESPN Plus| L 24–27| 48,187
November 2| 11:20 am| No. 25 Iowa|

* Memorial Stadium
* Champaign, IL

| ESPN Plus| L 21–31| 54,381
November 9| 11:30 am| No. 2 Ohio State|

* Memorial Stadium
* Champaign, IL (Illibuck)

| ESPN| L 0–48| 54,412
November 16| 6:00 pm| at Minnesota|

* Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
* Minneapolis, MN

| | L 21–23| 34,321
November 23| 1:00 pm| Wisconsin|

* Memorial Stadium
* Champaign, IL

| | L 15–35| 37,814

* *Non-conference game
* Homecoming
* Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
* All times are in Central time

[1]

## Roster

[edit]

1996 Illinois Fighting Illini football team roster

Players  | Coaches
Offense | Pos. | # | Name | Class

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|
|

QB | `15` | Justin Cella | Fr
TE | `86` | Matt Cushing | Jr
TE | `87` | Mark Day | Jr
WR | `1` | Michael Dean | Fr
RB | `7` | Ty Douthard | Sr
WR | `83` | Jason Dulick | Sr
RB | `35` | Robert Holcombe | Jr
QB | `9` | Kirk Johnson | Fr
C | `69` | Chris Koerwitz | Sr
OL | `72` | Jay Kuchenbecker | Sr
OL | `67` | J. P. Machado | So
WR | `22` | Rob Majoy | So
WR | `6` | George McDonald-Ashford |  So
OL | `60` | Ryan Schau | So
OL | `62` | Tom Schau | So
QB | `11` | Scott Weaver | Sr
Defense | Pos. | # | Name | Class

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|
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LB | `48` | Danny Clark | Fr
DL | `92` | Tom Claussen | Sr
DL | `66` | Garrett Johnson | So
LB | `41` | Eric Guenther | So
DB | `39` | Mike Gusich | So
DT | `76` | Tremaine Halley | Fr
Special teams | Pos. | # | Name | Class

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|
|

Head coach

* Lou Tepper

Coordinators/assistant coaches

* Paul Schudel – Offensive coordinator

* * *

Legend

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

* Injured
* Redshirt

* * *

Roster

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "fightingillini.com". Archived from the original on July 16, 2012. Retrieved November 20, 2012.

* v
* t
* e

Illinois Fighting Illini football

Venues|

* Illinois Field (1890–1922)
* Memorial Stadium (1923–present)
* Soldier Field (1994–present)

Bowls & rivalries|

* Bowl games
* Indiana
* Michigan
* Missouri
* Northwestern
* Ohio State: Illibuck
* Purdue

Culture & lore|

* Illinois Loyalty
* "Oskee Wow-Wow"
* Marching Illini
* Gene Honda
* Fighting Illini Sports Network
* Chief Illiniwek
* 1960s slush fund scandal
* 2021 Penn State game

People|

* Head coaches
* NFL draftees
* Statistical leaders

Seasons|

* 1890
* 1891
* 1892
* 1893
* 1894
* 1895
* 1896
* 1897
* 1898
* 1899
* 1900
* 1901
* 1902
* 1903
* 1904
* 1905
* 1906
* 1907
* 1908
* 1909
* 1910
* 1911
* 1912
* 1913
* 1914
* 1915
* 1916
* 1917
* 1918
* 1919
* 1920
* 1921
* 1922
* 1923
* 1924
* 1925
* 1926
* 1927
* 1928
* 1929
* 1930
* 1931
* 1932
* 1933
* 1934
* 1935
* 1936
* 1937
* 1938
* 1939
* 1940
* 1941
* 1942
* 1943
* 1944
* 1945
* 1946
* 1947
* 1948
* 1949
* 1950
* 1951
* 1952
* 1953
* 1954
* 1955
* 1956
* 1957
* 1958
* 1959
* 1960
* 1961
* 1962
* 1963
* 1964
* 1965
* 1966
* 1967
* 1968
* 1969
* 1970
* 1971
* 1972
* 1973
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* 1975
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* 1977
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* 1979
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National championship seasons in bold

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* v
* t
* e

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template
*[Conf.]: Conference record
*[W]: Wins
*[L]: Losses
*[No.]: Number