1996 Wisconsin Badgers football team

1996 Wisconsin Badgers football
Copper Bowl champion
Copper Bowl, W 38–10 vs. Utah
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	8–5 (3–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Barry Alvarez (7th season)
Offensive coordinator	Brad Childress^[citation needed] (5th season)
Offensive scheme	Smashmouth^[citation needed]
Defensive coordinator	Kevin Cosgrove^[citation needed] (2nd season)
Base defense	4–3^[citation needed]
MVP	Pete Monty
Captains	Daryl Carter Cayetano Castro Pete Monty Tarek Saleh Jamie Vanderveldt Jerry Wunsch^[citation needed]
Home stadium	Camp Randall Stadium
Seasons ← 1995 1997 →

1996 Big Ten Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
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 Wisconsin Badgers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Wisconsin–Madison as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their seventh year under head coach Barry Alvarez, the Badgers compiled an 8–5 record (3–5 in conference games), finished in seventh place in the Big Ten, and outscored opponents by a total of 339 to 233. Against ranked opponents, they lost to No. 3 Penn State, No. 2 Ohio State, and No. 14 Northwestern. They concluded the season with a victory over Utah in the Copper Bowl.^[1] The Badgers were unranked in the final AP and Coaches polls.

The team's statistical leaders for all games, including bowl game, were quarterback Mike Samuel (1,752 passing yards, 58.27% completion percentage), running back Ron Dayne (2,109 rushing yards, 6.5 yards per carry, 126 points scored), wide receiver Donald Hayes (44 receptions for 629 yards), and linebacker Pete Monty (85 solo tackles, 149 total tackles.^[2] Monty won the team's most valuable player award.^[3] Defensive lineman Tarek Saleh received first-team honors from the Football News on the 1996 All-America team. Four Badgers received first-team honors from the coaches or media on the 1996 All-Big Ten Conference football team: Dayne (Coaches-1, Media-1); Saleh (Coaches-1, Media-1); Monty (Coaches-1 [tie]; Media-2); and guard Jamie Vanderveldt (Media-1).^[4]

The team played its home games at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 7	11:30 a.m.	Eastern Michigan*	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ESPN2	W 24–3	74,279
September 14	9:00 p.m.	at UNLV*	Sam Boyd Stadium Whitney, NV		W 52–17	40,091
September 21	11:30 a.m.	Stanford*	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ESPN2	W 14–0	77,894
September 28	2:30 p.m.	No. 3 Penn State	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ABC	L 20–23	79,607
October 12	2:30 p.m.	at No. 2 Ohio State	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	ABC	L 14–17	94,215
October 19	11:30 a.m.	No. 14 Northwestern	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ESPN	L 30–34	79,576
October 26	11:30 a.m.	at Michigan State	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	ESPN2	L 13–30	69,217
November 2	11:30 a.m.	Purdue	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ESPN	W 33–25	78,330
November 9	11:00 a.m.	Minnesota	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI (rivalry)	ESPN Plus	W 45–28	78,006
November 16	11:30 a.m.	at Iowa	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA (rivalry)	ESPN	L 0–31	66,570
November 23	1:00 p.m.	at Illinois	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL		W 35–15	37,814
November 30	11:00 p.m.	at Hawaii*	Aloha Stadium Halawa, HI		W 59–10	26,819
December 27	8:00 p.m.	vs. Utah*	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ (Copper Bowl)	ESPN	W 38–10	42,122
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^{[citation needed]}

Season summary

Wisconsin started off quickly in 1996, winning their first three games against Eastern Michigan, UNLV, and Stanford. However, the Badgers then encountered far stiffer opposition against Penn State, Ohio State, Northwestern, and Michigan State. In the Northwestern game, Wisconsin RB Ron Dayne stunningly fumbled with just under a minute remaining. Northwestern recovered and scored the winning touchdown, sealing Wisconsin's third consecutive loss. The Badgers lost their fourth straight game the next week, falling 30–13 to Michigan State.

The Badgers snapped their four-game losing streak with consecutive wins against Purdue and rival Minnesota, before suffering a humiliating 31–0 loss at the hands of Hayden Fry's Iowa Hawkeyes. After falling to 5–5, the Badgers would win the final games on their regular season slate by beating Illinois and Hawaii, earning a bid to the Copper Bowl. The Badgers defeated the Utah Utes 38–10 in the 1996 Copper Bowl.

Wisconsin RB Ron Dayne ran for over 2,000 yards and 21 touchdowns in the 1996 season, earning Big Ten Freshman of the Year Honors in the process.^{[citation needed]}

Personnel

Roster

1996 Wisconsin Badgers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 17 Willie Austin Fr WR 88 Demetrius Brown  Fr FB 32 Branden Cantrell Jr G 68 Cayetano Castro (C)  Sr OT 64 James Darby  Sr RB 33 Ron Dayne Fr C 69 Derek Engler  Sr G 59 Mike Galletti  Sr OT 79 Aaron Gibson So TE 89 Eric Grams  So WR 84 Donald Hayes Jr QB 12 Scott Kavanagh Fr TE 9 Kevin Lyles  Sr FB 37 Cecil Martin  So RB 13 Carl McCullough  Jr OT 75 Chris McIntosh  Fr WR 1 Ahmad Merritt  Fr C 56 Mike Rader  Sr QB 10 Mike Samuel  So WR 82 Tony Simmons  Jr TE 49 Ryan Sondrup  So QB 18 Dirk Stanger  Jr RB 43 Aaron Stecker  So OL 77 Joe Steffen  Sr G 65 Jamie Vanderveldt (C)  Sr FB 41 John Waerig So RB 22 Charles Williams  Fr OT 71 Jerry Wunsch (C)  Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class S 29 Bob Adamov  So S 45 Giscard Bernard Sr DB 3 Onjai Bryant Jr DT 74 Tom Burke So CB 38 Lamar Campbell Jr DE 25 Marcus Carpenter  Fr LB 19 Daryl Carter (C) Sr DE 36 Azree Commander  Sr DE 99 Dave Cruickshank  So LB 96 Pete Diatelevi  Sr LB 55 Brian Flanigan  Jr LB 16 Chris Ghidorzi Fr DB 22 Trent Gross  Jr S 6 Kevin Huntley Jr DT 59 Joe Innis  Jr DT 58 Chris Janek Fr DE 85 Bryan Jurewicz  Sr LB 57 David Lysek  Jr DT 94 Neil Miklusak  Sr LB 48 Pete Monty (C) Sr S 26 Bobby Myers  Fr S 15 Tim Rosga  Fr DE 42 Tarek Saleh (C) Sr DT 91 Rod Spiller  Sr CB 28 Jason Suttle  Jr CB 34 Leonard Taylor  So CB 33 Scott Wagner  Jr CB 7 Cyrill Weems  Sr DT 92 Brian Williams  So S 21 Tony Williams  Fr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K, P 14 John Hall  Sr LS 46 Mike Schneck  Fr P 23 Eric Skrzypchak  Fr	Head coach Barry Alvarez Coordinators/assistant coaches Brad Childress – Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks Kevin Cosgrove – Defensive coordinator/inside linebackers Mike Cassity – Defensive backs Jay Hayes – Outside linebackers/special teams Jim Hueber – Offensive line Henry Mason – Wide receivers John Palermo – Assistant Head Coach/defensive line Brian White – Running backs Bernie Wyatt – Tight ends/recruiting coordinator Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster

^{[citation needed]}

Regular starters

Position Player Quarterback Mike Samuel Running back Ron Dayne Fullback Cecil Martin / Aaron Gibson Wide receiver Donald Hayes Wide receiver Tony Simmons Tight end Kevin Lyles Left tackle Chris McIntosh Left guard Jamie Vanderveldt Center Derek Engler Right guard Cayetano Castro Right tackle Jerry Wunsch

Position Player Defensive end Tarek Saleh Defensive tackle Neil Miklusak Defensive tackle Rod Spiller Defensive end Bryan Jurewicz Outside linebacker Daryl Carter Inside linebacker Pete Monty Outside linebacker David Lysek Cornerback Cyrill Weems Free safety Kevin Huntley Strong safety Bob Adamov Cornerback Jason Suttle

^{[citation needed]}

Wisconsin players selected in the 1997 NFL draft

Player	Position	Round	Overall Selection	NFL team
Jerry Wunsch	Guard	2	37	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Pete Monty	Linebacker	4	103	New York Giants
Tarek Saleh	Linebacker	4	122	Carolina Panthers

^[5]

References

1. "1996 Wisconsin Badgers Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved August 25, 2025.
2. "1996 Wisconsin Cumulative Statistics". UWBadgers.com. Retrieved August 25, 2025.
3. Mike Lucas (December 6, 1996). "MVP Monty pays tribute to teammates". The Capital Times. pp. 1B, 4B – via Newspapers.com.
4. "1996 All-Big Ten Team". Purdue University. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
5. "1984 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on May 27, 2009. Retrieved December 7, 2016.