1996 USC Trojans football team

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.

1996 USC Trojans football
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
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

1996 Pacific-10 Conference football standings

	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

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.

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 OT 60 Jon Walkwitz Fr G 61 Matt McShane  Fr G 62 David Pratchard  So C 63 Mark Manskar  Fr G, OT 65 Brett Samperi  Fr G 67 Chris Brymer  Jr OT 68 Brent McCaffrey Fr C, LS 69 Pat Smith Fr OT 70 Mike Whitcanack Fr G, OT 71 Travis Claridge Fr G 73 Phalen Pounds  Jr OT 74 Ken Bowen  So OT, G 75 Faaesea Mailo Fr OT, G 76 Joel Sugg Fr G 77 Trevor Roberts Fr OT 78 Rome Douglas  So OT 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 Keith Burns (defensive coordinator) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: 1997-02-18

Season summary

Notre Dame

See also: 1996 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team and Jeweled Shillelagh

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

Quarter	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 Plays Yards TOP 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