1996 BYU Cougars football team

The 1996 Brigham Young Cougars football team represented the Brigham Young University in the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. They were the first team during the so-called "Modern era" (post 1937) to play 15 games in a season, and the only one to do it when Division I-A teams normally played 11 regular season games. Firstly, a team was able to play a designated "kickoff" opening game and not have it count against the allowed game total, then they played at Hawaii which did not count against the allowed total. That allowed BYU to play 13 regular season games. They then played a conference championship game and a bowl game in the Cotton Bowl Classic bringing the total to 15 games.

1996 BYU Cougars football
WAC champion WAC Mountain Division champion Cotton Bowl Classic champion
WAC Championship Game, W 28–25 OT vs. Wyoming
Cotton Bowl Classic, W 19–15 vs. Kansas State
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
Division	Mountain Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 5
AP	No. 5
Record	14–1 (8–0 WAC)
Head coach	LaVell Edwards (25th season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Norm Chow (1st season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Roger French (16th season)
Offensive scheme	Pro spread
Defensive coordinator	Ken Schmidt (6th season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Cougar Stadium

1996 Western Athletic Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Mountain Division
No. 5 BYU x$		8	–	0					14	–	1
Utah		6	–	2					8	–	4
Rice		6	–	2					7	–	4
SMU		4	–	4					5	–	6
New Mexico		3	–	5					6	–	5
TCU		3	–	5					4	–	7
Tulsa		2	–	6					4	–	7
UTEP		0	–	8					2	–	9
Pacific Division
No. 22 Wyoming x		7	–	1					10	–	2
San Diego State		6	–	2					8	–	3
Colorado State		6	–	2					7	–	5
Air Force		5	–	3					6	–	5
Fresno State		3	–	5					4	–	7
San Jose State		3	–	5					3	–	9
Hawaii		1	–	7					2	–	10
UNLV		1	–	8					1	–	11
Championship: BYU 28, Wyoming 25 OT
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

During the 2002 and 2003 seasons teams were allowed to schedule 12 games as well as a "kickoff" game. As a result, the 2003 Kansas State Wildcats became only the second team to play a 15-game season, finishing with an 11-4 record. The kickoff game exemption was eliminated in 2005, but the Hawaii exemption remains in place.

Since 2014, it has again been possible for teams to play a 15-game schedule without playing in Hawaii because of the 4 team playoff system. The next team to do this without the aid of the playoff would be the 2019 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 24	10:00 am	No. 13 Texas A&M*		Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah (Pigskin Classic)	ABC	W 41–37	55,229
August 31	7:00 pm	Arkansas State*	No. 19	Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah	KSL	W 58–9	63,681
September 14	1:30 pm	at Washington*	No. 14	Husky Stadium Seattle	ABC	L 17–29	71,165
September 21	12:00 pm	New Mexico		Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah	KSL	W 17–14	63,587
September 28	12:00 pm	SMU	No. 24	Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah	KSL	W 31–3	62,537
October 4	7:00 pm	at Utah State*	No. 21	Romney Stadium Logan, Utah (The Old Wagon Wheel)	KUTV	W 45–17	33,119
October 12	12:00 pm	UNLV	No. 19	Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah	KSL	W 63–28	64,872
October 19	7:00 pm	at Tulsa	No. 18	Skelly Stadium Tulsa, Oklahoma	ESPN2	W 55–30	34,624
October 26	1:00 pm	at TCU	No. 15	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, Texas	KSL	W 45–21	28,961
November 2	12:00 pm	UTEP	No. 13	Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah	KSL	W 40–18	64,938
November 9	12:00 pm	Rice	No. 12	Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah	KSL	W 49–0	65,732
November 16	10:00 pm	at Hawaii	No. 10	Aloha Stadium Honolulu, HI	KSL	W 45–14	16,468
November 23	10:30 am	at Utah	No. 8	Rice Stadium Salt Lake City (Holy War)	ESPN	W 37–17	35,378
December 7	2:30 pm	vs. No. 20 Wyoming	No. 6	Sam Boyd Stadium Whitney, Nevada (WAC Championship Game)	ABC	W 28–25 OT	41,328
January 1	12:30 pm	vs. No. 14 Kansas State*	No. 5	Cotton Bowl Dallas (Cotton Bowl Classic)	CBS	W 19–15	71,928
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

Rankings

See also: 1996 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP	—	19	16	14	—	24	21	19	18	15	13	12	10	8	7	6	5	5
Coaches	—		16	15	25	24	21	20	20	16	14	12	10	7	7	6	5	5

Roster

1996 BYU Cougars football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class OL 79 Jason Andersen Jr WR 85 R. J. Anderson Jr FB 35 Donny Atuaia Fr RB 22 Mark Atuaia Sr OL 73 Eric Bateman So QB 12 Steve Sarkisian Sr OL 78 Greg Hoagland Sr WR 14 Margin Hooks Fr WR 88 Ben Horton Fr OT 66 Nathan Howard Sr TE 96 Chad Lewis Sr WR 80 Kaipo McGuire Sr TE 88 Itula Mili Sr OL 75 John Tait Fr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DL 90 Harland Ah You Jr LB 39 Joe Ambrosius Jr DB 9 Jason Anderson Jr LB 44 Rob Morris Fr LB 46 Shay Muirbrook (C) Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach LaVell Edwards Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster