1996 USC Trojans football team

1996 Pacific-10 Conference football standings
	$ – Conference champion; Rankings from AP Poll

1996 USC Trojans football
1996 USC Trojans football
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
1996 record	6–6 (3–5 Pac-10)
Head coach	John Robinson (11th season);
Offensive coordinator	Mike Riley (4th season)
Defensive coordinator	Keith Burns (3rd season)
Captain	John Allred; Sammy Knight
Home stadium	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (c. 92,000, grass)
	Seasons ← 1995 1997 →

The 1996 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their 11th and final year under head coach John Robinson, the Trojans compiled a 6–6 record (3–5 against conference opponents), finished in a five-way tie for fifth place in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) championship, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 325 to 267.^[1]

Quarterback Brad Otton led the team in passing, completing 196 of 370 passes for 2,649 yards with 20 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. LaVale Woods led the team in rushing with 119 carries for 601 yards and seven touchdowns. Chris Miller led the team in receiving with 43 catches for 793 yards and five touchdowns.^[2]

Schedule[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 25	11:00 a.m.	vs. No. 11 Penn State*	No. 7	Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ (Kickoff Classic)	ABC	L 7–24	77,716
September 7	12:30 p.m.	at Illinois*	No. 19	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ABC	W 55–3	56,504
September 14	3:30 p.m.	Oregon State	No. 16	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	Prime	W 46–17	48,069
September 21	12:30 p.m.	at Houston*	No. 15	Astrodome Houston, TX	Prime	W 26–9	21,035
October 5	12:30 p.m.	California	No. 17	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	ABC	L 15–22	51,511
October 12	3:30 p.m.	Arizona		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	FX	W 14–7	51,088
October 19	12:30 p.m.	at No. 4 Arizona State		Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ	ABC	L 35–48 ^2OT	74,947
October 26	7:15 p.m.	at Washington State		Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	Prime	W 29–24	33,111
November 2	12:30 p.m.	No. 21 Washington		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	ABC	L 10–21	60,039
November 9	7:15 p.m.	at Stanford		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA (rivalry)	Prime	L 20–24	41,980
November 23	12:30 p.m.	at UCLA		Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA (Victory Bell)	ABC	L 41–48 ^2OT	80,644
November 30	5:00 p.m.	No. 10 Notre Dame*		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Jeweled Shillelagh)	ABC	W 27–20 ^OT	90,296
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

Roster[]

1996 USC Trojans football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
WR	`2`	Chris Miller	Sr
WR	`3`	Billy Miller	So
QB	`4`	John Fox	Fr
RB	`5`	Rodney Sermons	Jr
TB	`7`	Chad Morton	Fr
QB	`9`	Quincy Woods	Fr
QB	`10`	Brad Otton	Sr
WR	`18`	R. Jay Soward	Fr
RB	`24`	Delon Washington	Jr
T	`60`	Jon Walkwitz	Fr
G	`61`	Matt McShane	Fr
G	`62`	David Pratchard	So
C	`63`	Mark Manskar	Fr
G	`65`	Brett Samperi	Fr
G	`67`	Chris Brymer	Jr
T	`68`	Brent McCaffrey	Fr
C, LS	`69`	Pat Smith	Fr
T	`70`	Mike Whitcanack	Fr
G	`71`	Travis Claridge	Fr
G	`73`	Phalen Pounds	Jr
T	`74`	Ken Bowen	So
T, G	`75`	Faaesea Mailo	Fr
T, G	`76`	Joel Sugg	Fr
G	`77`	Trevor Roberts	Fr
T	`78`	Rome Douglas	So
T	`79`	Grant Boelter	Jr
WR	`80`	Larry Parker	Jr
WR	`81`	Stanley Guyness	Fr
TE	`82`	Gurjot Dhaliwal	So
WR	`83`	Troy Garner	Fr
TE	`84`	Jeff Diltz	Sr
WR	`85`	Santiago Coleman	So
TE	`88`	Travis Hall	Sr
TE	`89`	John Allred	Sr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
CB	`1`	Daylon McCutcheon	So
S	`9`	Sammy Knight	Jr
DB	`27`	David Gibson	Fr
LB	`40`	Bob Aubrey	So
S, CB	`42`	Brian Kelly	Jr
LB	`55`	Chris Claiborne	Fr
DT	`95`	Marc Matock	So
DT	`96`	Darrell Russell	Jr
DT	`99`	Ennis Davis	Fr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K	`19`	Adam Abrams	So

Head coach

John Robinson

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Roster
Last update: 1997-02-18

Season summary[]

Notre Dame[]

#10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8–2) at USC Trojans (5–6)

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
Notre Dame	0	7	7	6	0	20
USC	6	0	0	14	7	27

at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • Los Angeles, California

Date: November 30
Game attendance: 90,296
TV announcers (ABC): Brent Musburger and Dick Vermeil
USA Today

Game information

Notre Dame

Ron Powlus
8/19, 108 Yds, TD
Autry Denson
33 Rush, 160 Yds, TD
Emmett Mosley
3 Rec, 29 Yds

USC

Brad Otton
13/25, 183 Yds, 2 TD
Delon Washington
15 Rush, 67 Yds, TD
Chris Miller
4 Rec, 69 Yds, TD

Scoring summary

Quarter	Time	Drive			Team	Scoring information	Score
Quarter	Time	Plays	Yards	TOP	Team	Scoring information	ND	USC
1					USC	30-yard field goal by Abrams	0	3
1					USC	38-yard field goal by Abrams	0	6
2	14:23				Notre Dame	Spencer 1-yard touchdown run, Sanson kick good	7	6
3	0:23				Notre Dame	Champion 25-yard touchdown reception from Powlus, Sanson kick good	14	6
4					USC	C. Miller 5-yard touchdown reception from Otton, 2-point pass failed	14	12
4	4:52				Notre Dame	Denson 9-yard touchdown run, Sanson kick no good	20	12
4	1:50				USC	Washington 15-yard touchdown run, 2-point run good	20	20
OT					USC	Sermons 5-yard touchdown reception from Otton, Abrams kick good	20	27
"TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football.							20	27

Team players in the NFL[]

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Darrell Russell	Defensive tackle	1	2	Oakland Raiders
John Allred	Tight End	2	38	Chicago Bears
Matt Keneley	Defensive tackle	7	208	New York Giants
Chris Miller	Wide Receiver	7	213	Green Bay Packers

References[]

^ "Southern California Yearly Results (1995-1999)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
^ "1996 Southern California Trojans Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 21, 2015.

[1] "Southern California Yearly Results (1995-1999)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.

[2] "1996 Southern California Trojans Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 21, 2015.

[1]

[2]

v t USC Trojans football
Venues	Athletic Park (1895–98) Fiesta Park (1897–98, 1902, 1904–06, 1916) Chutes Park (1900) Prager Park (1903) Bovard Field (1904–10, 1914–15, 1917–22) Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (1923–present) Jones Field/Kennedy Field (practice)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Notre Dame Stanford UCLA Victory Bell Crosstown Cup
Culture & lore	Traveler George Tirebiter Giles Pellerin "Fight On" Spirit of Troy Student Body Right Tommy Trojan Athletics scandal 1967 "Game of the Century" "Bush Push" 2007 Stanford game So This Is College
People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911–1913 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 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
National championship seasons in bold

1996 Pacific-10 Conference football standings
v t	Conf				Overall
Team		W		L		W		L
No. 4 Arizona State $		8	–	0		11	–	1
No. 16 Washington		7	–	1		9	–	3
Stanford		5	–	3		7	–	5
UCLA		4	–	4		5	–	6
Oregon		3	–	5		6	–	5
California		3	–	5		6	–	6
USC		3	–	5		6	–	6
Arizona		3	–	5		5	–	6
Washington State		3	–	5		5	–	6
Oregon State		1	–	7		2	–	9

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll