1996 Marshall Thundering Herd football team

1996 Marshall Thundering Herd football
National Champions Southern Conference Champions
I-AA National Championship, W 49–29 vs. Montana
Conference	Southern Conference
Ranking
Sports Network	#1^[1]
FCS Coaches	#1
1996 record	15–0 (8–0 SoCon)
Head coach	Bob Pruett
Offensive coordinator	Larry Kueck
Defensive coordinator	Kevin Kelly
Home stadium	Marshall University Stadium (Capacity: 30,000)

1996 Southern Conference football standings
	Conf				Overall
Team		W		L		W		L
#1 Marshall $^		8	–	0		15	–	0
#7 East Tennessee State ^		7	–	1		10	–	3
#9 Furman ^		6	–	2		9	–	4
#22 Appalachian State		5	–	3		7	–	4
The Citadel		3	–	5		4	–	7
Georgia Southern		2	–	6		4	–	7
VMI		2	–	6		3	–	8
Chattanooga		2	–	6		3	–	8
Western Carolina		1	–	7		4	–	7

$ – Conference champion ^ – Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from The Sports Network I-AA Poll

The 1996 Marshall Thundering Herd football team represented Marshall University in its final season in NCAA Division I-AA. It was their second national championship in school history.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent^#	Rank^#	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 7	7:00 PM	Howard*	#1	Marshall University Stadium • Huntington, WV		W 55–27	26,054
September 14	7:00 PM	West Virginia State*	#1	Marshall University Stadium • Huntington, WV		W 42–7	21,851
September 21	3:30 PM	at #13 Georgia Southern	#1	Paulson Stadium • Statesboro, GA	WSAZ	W 29–13	13,977
September 28	7:00 PM	#12 Western Kentucky*	#1	Marshall University Stadium • Huntington, WV		W 37–3	20,755
October 5	7:00 PM	Chattanooga	#1	Marshall University Stadium • Huntington, WV	WSAZ	W 45–0	22,078
October 12	1:00 PM	at VMI	#1	Alumni Memorial Field • Lexington, VA		W 45–20	9,165
October 19	7:00 PM	Western Carolina	#1	Marshall University Stadium • Huntington, WV	WSAZ	W 56–21	19,330
October 26	1:00 PM	at #20 Appalachian State	#1	Kidd Brewer Stadium • Boone, NC	SS	W 24–10	23,458
November 2	1:00 PM	The Citadel	#1	Marshall University Stadium • Huntington, WV	WSAZ	W 56–25	21,038
November 9	2:00 PM	at #7 East Tennessee State	#1	Memorial Center • Johnson City, TN	WSAZ	W 34–10	13,131
November 16	1:00 PM	Furman	#1	Marshall University Stadium • Huntington, WV		W 42–17	22,615
November 30	1:00 PM	#10 Delaware*	#1	Marshall University Stadium • Huntington, WV (Division I-AA 1st Round Playoff Game)	WSAZ	W 59–14	15,429
December 7	1:00 PM	#9 Furman	#1	Marshall University Stadium • Huntington, WV (Division I-AA Quarterfinal Playoff Game)	WSAZ	W 54–0	14,096
December 14	1:00 PM	#3 Northern Iowa*	#1	Marshall University Stadium • Huntington, WV (Division I-AA Semifinal Playoff Game)	WSAZ	W 31–14	14,414
December 21	2:00 PM	#2 Montana*	#1	Marshall University Stadium • Huntington, WV (I-AA National Championship)	ESPN	W 49–29	30,052
*Non-conference game. Homecoming. ^#Rankings from Coaches' Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time^[2].

References

↑ "Final Sports Network's 1996 Division 1-AA College Football Poll". The Sports Network. Archived from the original on June 6, 2009. Retrieved June 1, 2009.
↑ "1996 Marshall Football Schedule." 1996 Marshall University Football Media Guide Retrieved on April 16, 2009. Archived October 21, 2009.

1996 Marshall Thundering Herd football—NCAA Division I-AA national champions

Rogers Beckett Doug Chapman B. J. Cohen Melvin Cunningham John Grace Chris Hanson Eric Kresser Billy Lyon Randy Moss Andre O'Neal Chad Pennington John Wade Head coach: Bob Pruett Assistant coaches: Jay Hopson Kevin Kelly Tony Petersen

Marshall Thundering Herd football

Venues	Fairfield Stadium (1927–1990) Joan C. Edwards Stadium (1991–present)

Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games East Carolina Ohio: Battle for the Bell West Virginia: Friends of Coal Bowl

Culture & lore	Marco the Buffalo "Sons of Marshall" Marching Thunder Southern Airways Flight 932 Marshall University: Ashes to Glory We Are Marshall

People	Head coaches NFL draftees

Seasons	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 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

National championship seasons in bold

NCAA Division I-AA/FCS football champions

1970s	1978: Florida A&M 1979: Eastern Kentucky

1980s	1980: Boise State 1981: Idaho 1982: Eastern Kentucky 1983: Southern Illinois 1984: Montana State 1985: Georgia Southern 1986: Georgia Southern 1987: Northeast Louisiana 1988: Furman 1989: Georgia Southern

1990s	1990: Georgia Southern 1991: Youngstown State 1992: Marshall 1993: Youngstown State 1994: Youngstown State 1995: Montana 1996: Marshall 1997: Youngstown State 1998: UMass 1999: Georgia Southern

2000s	2000: Georgia Southern 2001: Montana 2002: Western Kentucky 2003: Delaware 2004: James Madison 2005: Appalachian State 2006: Appalachian State 2007: Appalachian State 2008: Richmond 2009: Villanova

2010s	2010: Eastern Washington 2011: North Dakota State 2012: North Dakota State 2013: North Dakota State 2014: North Dakota State 2015: North Dakota State

1996 NCAA Division I-AA football playoff participants

Delaware East Tennessee State Eastern Illinois Florida A&M Furman Jackson State Marshall Montana Murray State Nicholls State Northern Arizona Northern Iowa Troy State Villanova Western Illinois William & Mary

Champion – Marshall Thundering Herd

Southern Conference football champions

Pre-SEC	Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech & North Carolina (1922) Vanderbilt & Washington and Lee (1923) Alabama (1924) Alabama & Tulane (1925) Alabama (1926) Georgia Tech, Tennessee, & NC State (1927) Georgia Tech (1928) Tulane (1929) Alabama & Tulane (1930) Tulane (1931) Tennessee & Auburn & LSU (1932)

Pre-ACC	Duke (1933) Washington and Lee (1934) Duke (1935) Duke (1936) Maryland (1937) Duke (1938) Duke (1939) Clemson (1940) Duke (1941) William & Mary (1942) Duke (1943) Duke (1944) Duke (1945) North Carolina (1946) William & Mary (1947) Clemson (1948) North Carolina (1949) Washington and Lee (1950) Maryland & VMI (1951) Duke (1952)

Post-ACC	West Virginia (1953) West Virginia (1954) West Virginia (1955) West Virginia (1956) VMI (1957) West Virginia (1958) VMI (1959) VMI (1960) The Citadel (1961) VMI (1962) VPI (1963) West Virginia (1964) West Virginia (1965) East Carolina & William & Mary (1966) West Virginia (1967) Richmond (1968) Davidson & Richmond (1969) William & Mary (1970) Richmond (1971) East Carolina (1972) East Carolina (1973) VMI (1974) Richmond (1975) East Carolina (1976) Chattanooga & VMI (1977) Chattanooga & Furman (1978) Chattanooga (1979) Furman (1980) Furman (1981)

I-AA/FCS	Furman (1982) Furman (1983) Chattanooga (1984) Furman (1985) Appalachian State (1986) Appalachian State (1987) Furman & Marshall (1988) Furman (1989) Furman (1990) Appalachian State (1991) The Citadel (1992) Georgia Southern (1993) Marshall (1994) Appalachian State (1995) Marshall (1996) Georgia Southern (1997) Georgia Southern (1998) Appalachian State, Furman, & Georgia Southern (1999) Georgia Southern (2000) Furman & Georgia Southern (2001) Georgia Southern (2002) Wofford (2003) Furman & Georgia Southern (2004) Appalachian State (2005) Appalachian State (2006) Appalachian State & Wofford (2007) Appalachian State (2008) Appalachian State (2009) Appalachian State & Wofford (2010) Georgia Southern (2011) Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, & Wofford (2012) Chattanooga, Furman, & Samford (2013) Chattanooga (2014) Chattanooga & The Citadel (2015)

National championships in bold

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