1996 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

1996 Big East Conference football standings
	+ – Conference co-champions; Rankings from AP Poll

1996 West Virginia Mountaineers football
1996 West Virginia Mountaineers football
Gator Bowl, L 13–20 vs. North Carolina
Conference	Big East Conference
1996 record	8–4 (4–3 Big East)
Head coach	Don Nehlen (17th season);
Home stadium	Mountaineer Field; (Capacity: 63,500)
	Seasons ← 1995 1997 →

The 1996 West Virginia Mountaineers football team represented West Virginia University in the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. It was the Mountaineers' 104th overall and 6th season as a member of the Big East Conference (Big East). The team was led by head coach Don Nehlen, in his 17th year, and played their home games at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia. They finished the season with a record of eight wins and four losses (8–4 overall, 4–3 in the Big East) and with a loss in the Gator Bowl against North Carolina.

Schedule[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	7:30 p.m.	at Pittsburgh		Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh (Backyard Brawl)	ESPN	W 34–0	54,612
September 7	Noon	Western Michigan*		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	ESPN+	W 34–9	47,938
September 14	Noon	East Carolina*		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	ESPN+	W 10–9	50,129
September 21	7:00 p.m.	at Purdue*		Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, Indiana		W 20–6	40,624
September 28	6:00 p.m.	Maryland*	No. 23	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia (rivalry)	ESPN2	W 13–0	54,542
October 5	3:30 p.m.	Boston College	No. 19	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	CBS	W 34–17	58,307
October 19	1:30 p.m.	at Temple	No. 15	Veterans Stadium Philadelphia		W 30–10	12,546
October 26	7:00 p.m.	No. 25 Miami (FL)	No. 12	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	ESPN	L 7–10	66,948
November 2	3:30 p.m.	Syracuse	No. 18	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia (Ben Schwartzwalder Trophy)	CBS	L 7–30	56,312
November 9	Noon	at Rutgers		Rutgers Stadium Piscataway, New Jersey		W 55–14	21,024
November 23	Noon	at No. 17 Virginia Tech	No. 23	Lane Stadium Blacksburg, Virginia (Black Diamond Trophy)	ESPN2	L 14–31	50,086
January 1	12:30 p.m.	vs. No. 12 North Carolina	No. 25	Jacksonville Municipal Stadium Jacksonville, Florida (Gator Bowl)	NBC	L 13–20	52,103
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

1996 West Virginia Mountaineers football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
QB	`8`	Chad Johnston	Sr
QB	`10`	Marc Bulger	Fr
QB	`17`	Ja'Juan Seider	Fr
RB	`20`	Amos Zereoue	Fr
TE	`82`	Anthony Becht	Fr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
DB	`23`	Mike Logan	Sr
LB	`57`	Gary Stills	So
DT	`78`	Henry Slay	Jr
LB	`91`	Bernard Russ	Sr
DT	`92`	John Thornton	So
LB	`98`	Kevin Landolt	So

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class

v t West Virginia Mountaineers football
Venues	Mountaineer Field (1924–1979) Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium (1980–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Marshall Maryland Penn State Pittsburgh Syracuse Virginia Tech
Culture & lore	The Mountaineer Marching band "Take Me Home, Country Roads" 1921 Backyard Brawl (first college football game to be radio broadcasted) 2007 Backyard Brawl
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1891 1892 1893 1894 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 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

1996 Big East Conference football standings
v t	Conf				Overall
Team		W		L		W		L
No. 13 Virginia Tech +		6	–	1		10	–	2
No. 14 Miami (FL) +		6	–	1		9	–	3
No. 21 Syracuse +		6	–	1		9	–	3
West Virginia		4	–	3		8	–	4
Pittsburgh		3	–	4		4	–	7
Boston College		2	–	5		5	–	7
Rutgers		1	–	6		2	–	9
Temple		0	–	7		1	–	10

+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll