1996 Utah Utes football team

1996 Utah Utes football
Copper Bowl vs. Wisconsin, L, 38–10
Conference	Western Athletic Conference Mountain Division
1996 record	8–4 (6–2 WAC)
Head coach	Ron McBride (7th year)
Offensive coordinator	Fred Graves (2nd year)
Defensive coordinator	Kyle Whittingham (2nd year)
Home stadium	Rice Stadium (32,500)

1996 WAC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Mountain Division
#5 BYU x$		8	–	0					14	–	1
Utah		6	–	2					8	–	4
Rice		6	–	2					7	–	4
SMU		4	–	4					5	–	6
New Mexico		3	–	5					6	–	5
TCU		3	–	5					4	–	7
Tulsa		2	–	6					4	–	7
UTEP		0	–	8					2	–	9
Pacific Division
#22 Wyoming x		7	–	1					10	–	2
San Diego State		6	–	2					8	–	3
Colorado State		6	–	2					7	–	5
Air Force		5	–	3					6	–	5
Fresno State		3	–	5					4	–	7
San Jose State		3	–	5					3	–	9
Hawaii		1	–	7					2	–	10
UNLV		1	–	8					1	–	11
Championship: BYU 28, Wyoming 25 ^OT
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

The 1996 season started with a loss at Utah State, but the team quickly turned things around, winning the next 7 games and climbing to a #20 ranking in the AP Poll. This run came to a crashing halt when the Utes suffered their worst loss in six years to the Rice Owls, giving up 496 yards rushing.^[1] This set the tone for the end of the season, with the Utes going 1-3 in their last four games, giving up a total of 1,439 yards rushing in these 4 games (359.75 avg), including a 38–10 loss to the Wisconsin Badgers in the 1996 Copper Bowl.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent^#	Rank^#	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	7:00 PM	at Utah State*		Romney Stadium • Logan, UT (Battle of the Brothers)		L 17–20	30,257
September 7	5:00 PM	at Stanford*		Stanford Stadium • Stanford, CA	ABC	W 17–10	34,587
September 14	6:00 PM	at SMU		Ownby Stadium • Dallas, TX	KJZZ	W 21–17	22,614
September 21	7:00 PM	Fresno State		Rice Stadium • Salt Lake City, UT		W 45–17	32,539
September 28	7:00 PM	#20 Kansas*		Rice Stadium • Salt Lake City, UT	ESPN2	W 45–42	32,519
October 5	1:00 PM	at UTEP	#24	Sun Bowl Stadium • El Paso, TX		W 34–27	28,271
October 19	12:00 PM	TCU	#24	Rice Stadium • Salt Lake City, UT		W 21–7	28,786
October 26	12:00 PM	Tulsa	#21	Rice Stadium • Salt Lake City, UT		W 45–19	29,047
November 2	1:00 PM	at Rice	#20	Rice Stadium • Houston, TX		L 10–51	23,250
November 9	8:00 PM	at New Mexico		University Stadium • Albuquerque, NM (The Bowl)	ESPN2	W 31–24	22,241
November 23	10:30 AM	#8 BYU		Rice Stadium • Salt Lake City, UT (Holy War)	ESPN	L 17–37	35,378
December 27	7:00 PM	vs. Wisconsin*		Arizona Stadium • Tucson, Arizona (Copper Bowl)	ESPN	L 10–38	42,122
*Non-conference game. Homecoming. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. All times are in Mountain Time.

^{[2][3] [4]}

After the season

NFL draft

No players went in the 1997 NFL Draft.

CFL draft

Chad Folk 1st overall in the 1997 CFL Draft

References

1. "Game Recap". 1996-11-02. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
2. "Ute Record Book" (PDF). University of Utah. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
3. "1996 record". College Football Data Warehouse. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
4. "1996 results". Utah Official Athletic Site. Retrieved 2009-06-05.