1996 BYU Cougars football team

American college football season February 2026 November 2024 August 2023 1996 BYU Cougars football BYU Logo 1969-1998.png Western Athletic Conference Mountain Division WAC 5 5 14–1 8–0 LaVell Edwards 25th Norm Chow 1st Roger French 16th Pro spread Ken Schmidt 6th 4–3 Cougar Stadium WAC championWAC Mountain Division championCotton Bowl Classic champion WAC Championship Game W 28–25 OT vs. Wyoming Cotton Bowl Classic W 19–15 vs. Kansas State The 1996 Brigham Young Cougars football team represented the Brigham Young University in the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. They were the first team during the so-called "Modern era" (post 1937) to play 15 games in a season, and the only one to do it when Division I-A teams normally played 11 regular season games. Firstly, a team was able to play a designated "kickoff" opening game and not have it count against the allowed game total, then they played at Hawaii which did not count against the allowed total. That allowed BYU to play 13 regular season games. They then played a conference championship game and a bowl game in the Cotton Bowl Classic bringing the total to 15 games.2024-09-20 Untold stories from BYU's 1996 Cotton Bowl-winning season https://www.deseret.com/sports/2024/09/19/byu-cougars-chad-lewis-shares-memories-of-1996-season-cotton-bowl-kansas-state/ 2024-11-01 Deseret News en During the 2002 and 2003 seasons teams were allowed to schedule 12 games as well as a "kickoff" game. As a result, the 2003 Kansas State Wildcats became only the second team to play a 15-game season, finishing with an 11-4 record. The kickoff game exemption was eliminated in 2005, but the Hawaii exemption remains in place. Since 2014, it has again been possible for teams to play a 15-game schedule without playing in Hawaii because of the 4 team playoff system. The next team to do this without the aid of the playoff would be the 2019 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. Schedule 1996 AP Mountain August 24 10:00 am w y Texas A&M 13 Cougar Stadium Provo, UT Pigskin Classic ABC 41–37 55,229 August 31 7:00 pm w y 19 Arkansas State Cougar Stadium Provo, UT KSL 58–9 63,681 September 14 1:30 pm l y y 14 Washington Husky Stadium Seattle, WA ABC 17–29 71,165 September 21 12:00 pm w New Mexico Cougar Stadium Provo, UT KSL 17–14 63,587 September 28 12:00 pm w 24 SMU Cougar Stadium Provo, UT KSL 31–3 62,537 October 4 7:00 pm w y y 21 Utah State Romney Stadium Logan, UT The Old Wagon Wheel KUTV 45–17 33,119 October 12 12:00 pm w 19 y UNLV Cougar Stadium Provo, UT KSL 63–28 64,872 October 19 7:00 pm w y 18 Tulsa Skelly Stadium Tulsa, OK ESPN2 55–30 34,624 October 26 1:00 pm w y 15 TCU Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX KSL 45–21 28,961 November 2 12:00 pm w 13 UTEP Cougar Stadium Provo, UT KSL 40–18 64,938 November 9 12:00 pm w 12 Rice Cougar Stadium Provo, UT KSL 49–0 65,732 November 16 10:00 pm w y 10 Hawaii Aloha Stadium Halawa, HI KSL 45–14 16,468 November 23 10:30 am w y 8 Utah Robert Rice Stadium Salt Lake City, UT Holy War ESPN 37–17 35,378 December 7 2:30 pm w y 6 Wyoming 20 Sam Boyd Stadium Whitney, NV WAC Championship Game ABC 28–25 OT 41,328 January 1 12:30 pm w y y 5 Kansas State 14 Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX Cotton Bowl Classic CBS 19–15 71,928 Rankings 1996 NCAA Division I-A football rankings AP 0 17 NR 19 16 14 NR 24 21 19 18 15 13 12 10 8 7 6 5 5 Coaches 0 17 NR 16 15 25 24 21 20 20 16 14 12 10 7 7 6 5 5 Roster 1996 BYU Cougars f 79 Jr Jason Andersen OL y 85 Jr R. J. Anderson WR 35 Fr Donny Atuaia FB 22 Sr Mark Atuaia RB 73 So Eric Bateman OL 12 Sr Steve Sarkisian QB y 78 Sr Greg Hoagland OL 14 Fr Margin Hooks WR yes 88 Fr Ben Horton WR yes 68 Sr Scott Fannin T 96 Sr Chad Lewis TE y 80 Sr Kaipo McGuire WR y 88 Sr Itula Mili TE y 75 Fr John Tait John Tait (American football) OL y 90 Jr Harland Ah You DL 39 Jr Joe Ambrosius LB 9 Jr Jason Anderson DB 44 Fr Rob Morris Rob Morris (American football) LB y 46 Jr Shay Muirbrook LB C https://byucougars.com/roster/football/1996 LaVell Edwards Robbie Bosco (quarterbacks) Norm Chow (associate head coach / offensive coordinator / quarterbacks / receivers) Roger French (offensive live / offensive coordinator) Barry Lamb (safeties) Brian Mitchell (cornerbacks) Chris Pella (recruiting coordinator / kickers / tight ends) Tom Ramage (defensive line / special teams) Lance Reynolds (running backs) Ken Schmidt (defensive coordinator / linebackers) Mike Empey (graduate assistant) Nathan Gibbs (graduate assistant) References BYU Category:BYU Cougars football seasons Category:Western Athletic Conference football champion seasons Category:Cotton Bowl Classic champion seasons BYU Cougars football Category:Long stubs with short prose