1996 Utah State Aggies football team

Last updated

1996 Utah State Aggies football
Big West co-champion
Conference Big West Conference
Record6–5 (4–1 Big West)
Head coach
Offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino (2nd season)
Defensive coordinatorChris Smeland (2nd season)
Home stadium Romney Stadium
Seasons
  1995
1997  
1996 Big West Conference football standings
Conf.Overall
Team W L  W L 
Nevada +  4 1   9 3  
Utah State +  4 1   6 5  
Idaho  3 2   6 5  
North Texas  3 2   5 6  
Boise State  1 4   2 10  
New Mexico State  0 5   1 10  
  • + Conference co-champions

The 1996 Utah State Aggies football team represented Utah State University as a member of the Big West Conference the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Aggies were led by head coach John L. Smith in his second year in charge. The Aggies played their home games at Romney Stadium in Logan, Utah. Utah State finished with a 6–5 record and a share of the Big West championship, but was not invited to a bowl game.

Contents

Schedule

DateOpponentSiteResultAttendanceSource
August 31 Utah *W 20–1730,257 [1]
September 7 Cal State Northridge *
  • Romney Stadium
  • Logan, UT
W 57–2720,120
September 14at Southern Miss *L 24–3124,307
September 21at Oklahoma State *L 17–3137,000
September 28at Texas Tech *L 20–5839,778
October 4No. 21 BYU *
L 17–4533,119
October 12at New Mexico State W 53–217,839
October 19at Boise State W 39–1418,168
October 26 Idaho
  • Romney Stadium
  • Logan, UT
W 35–2813,712 [2]
November 2 North Texas
  • Romney Stadium
  • Logan, UT
W 21–1311,892
November 9 Nevada
  • Romney Stadium
  • Logan, UT
L 27–5420,106
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

[3] [4]

Season summary

Utah State opened the season with back-to-back victories for the first time since the 1978 season as they defeated bitter rivals Utah and Division I-AA Cal State Northridge in a pair of home games. The victory over Utah was the first since 1987 when the Aggies had upset the Utes in Salt Lake City.

After an encouraging set of wins, the Aggies faced four difficult games in four weeks. They would fall in competitive road games to Southern Mississippi and Oklahoma State, before suffering less competitive losses on the road to Texas Tech and then at home to #21 BYU. The home game against BYU set the record for the largest crowd ever at Romney Stadium, with 33,119 spectators in attendance.

Moving into Big West play, the Aggies won each of their first four conference games by an average margin of 18 points. Having reached bowl eligibility, the Aggies hosted the Nevada Wolf Pack for a chance to win an outright Big West conference championship and secure a bowl berth. However, Nevada would win the game in Logan comfortably, beating the Aggies 54–27. [5] The 1996 contest between the two teams constituted Nevada's fifth consecutive victory, a streak that would end the following year in Reno as the teams again played for a conference championship.

On offense, the Aggies built on the previous season's success under coordinator Bobby Petrino and incorporated a few new names alongside returning rushing leader Abu Wilson. Matt Sauk, a junior college transfer from Orange Coast College, stepped into a competitive quarterback room that included previous year starter Patrick Mullins. By the end of the season, Sauk had become the starter and threw for over 2,400 yards (including three 300+ passing yard performances). The 1996 season marks the most passing yards per game ever for an Aggie team (317.5). The top target for Sauk and Mullins in 1996 was Nakia Jenkins, who hauled in 82 receptions for 1,397 yards and 8 touchdowns.

Abu Wilson once again led the Aggies rushing attack, accumulating 840 yards and 16 touchdowns (a school record at the time). Wilson finished his career with 40 total rushing touchdowns, which remains a school record shared with Robert Turbin. Joining Wilson in the backfield was freshman Demario Brown, who would add 700 yards and 8 touchdowns. Brown would eventually become the leading rusher in Utah State history, and shares the record for most rushing attempts with Wilson. After the season, Abu Wilson was named to the Blue-Gray All-Star Game as acknowledgement for his record-setting career. Both Wilson and Brown were named to the All-Big West Conference team.

Defensively, the Aggies were led once again by senior linebacker David Gill. For the third consecutive year, Gill led the team in tackles (150 total, 16 shy of his 1995 mark). Gill would finish his Aggie career second all-time in tackles behind Del Lyles (1988–91), and still holds two of the top five spots for tackles in a season (1995 and 1996). He has since been surpassed by Bobby Wagner for all-time tackles, who finished tied with Lyles at 446. Other leaders for the Aggie defense in 1996 included Dwayne Nelson, Danilo Robinson, Ben Crosland, Spencer Waggoner, and Mike Hudson.

Roster

1996 Utah State Aggies football team roster
PlayersCoaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
Defense
Pos.#NameClass
FS 3 Johndale Carty So
Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
K 19 Micah Knorr Sr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injury icon 2.svg Injured
  • Redshirt.svg Redshirt

Roster

Awards and honors

The Aggies had 16 players named to either the first or second all-conference team in the Big West.

PlayerPositionTeam
David GillLB1ST
Nakia Jenkins WR1ST
Mauricio JourdanOL1ST
Dwayne NelsonCB1ST
Abu WilsonRB2ND
Demario BrownRB2ND
Guillermo ChavezTE2ND
Mark RommelOL2ND
Ken WattsOL2ND
Brandon DysonOL2ND
Danilo RobinsonDL2ND
Ben CroslandDL2ND
Spencer WaggonnerLB2ND
Mike HudsonS2ND
Micah KnorrPK2ND
Nathan MorrealeP2ND

References

  1. Jeff Fletcher (September 8, 1996). "Matadors See Positives in 57-27 Loss to Utah State". The Los Angeles Times (Valley ed.). Los Angeles, California. p. C10. Retrieved June 15, 2017 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  2. O'Neal, Shawn (October 28, 1996). "John L. torn as Aggies topple Vandals, 35-28". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. (Idaho-Washington). p. 1C.
  3. "1996 Utah State Aggies Schedule and Results" . Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  4. "2019 Utah State Aggies Football Media Guide" (PDF). Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  5. "Senior Contributions Assist Aggies" . Retrieved May 31, 2020.