1996 Florida State Seminoles football team

The 1996 Florida State Seminoles football team represented Florida State University in the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Bobby Bowden and played their home games at Doak Campbell Stadium. The team was selected national champion by Alderson.^[1]

1996 Florida State Seminoles football
ACC champion
Sugar Bowl, L 20–52 vs. Florida
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 3
AP	No. 3
Record	11–1 (8–0 ACC)
Head coach	Bobby Bowden (21st season)
Offensive coordinator	Mark Richt (3rd season)
Defensive coordinator	Mickey Andrews (13th season)
Home stadium	Doak Campbell Stadium (Capacity: 80,000)
Seasons ← 1995 1997 →

1996 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 3 Florida State $		8	–	0					11	–	1
No. 10 North Carolina		6	–	2					10	–	2
Clemson		6	–	2					7	–	5
Virginia		5	–	3					7	–	5
Georgia Tech		4	–	4					5	–	6
Maryland		3	–	5					5	–	6
NC State		3	–	5					3	–	8
Wake Forest		1	–	7					3	–	8
Duke		0	–	8					0	–	11
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Florida State completed just their third undefeated regular season, and for the second straight season, running back Warrick Dunn was a Heisman Trophy finalist.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 7	3:30 p.m.	Duke	No. 3	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, Florida	ABC	W 44–7	80,032
September 19	8:00 p.m.	at NC State	No. 3	Carter–Finley Stadium Raleigh, North Carolina	ESPN	W 51–17	45,700
September 28	3:30 p.m.	No. 11 North Carolina	No. 2	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, Florida	ABC	W 13–0	80,120
October 5	7:00 p.m.	Clemson	No. 2	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, Florida (rivalry)	ESPN	W 34–3	76,300
October 12	3:30 p.m.	at No. 6 Miami (FL)*	No. 3	Orange Bowl Miami (rivalry)	CBS	W 34–16	75,913
October 26	3:30 p.m.	No. 14 Virginia	No. 3	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, Florida (Jefferson-Eppes Trophy)	ABC	W 31–24	80,237
November 2	7:00 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	No. 3	Bobby Dodd Stadium Atlanta	ESPN	W 49–3	46,311
November 9	12:00 p.m.	at Wake Forest	No. 3	Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, Florida (Dowdy Aviation Classic)	JPS	W 44–7	34,974
November 16	7:00 p.m.	No. 25 Southern Miss*	No. 3	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, Florida	ESPN	W 54–14	77,280
November 23	3:30 p.m.	vs. Maryland	No. 3	Pro Player Stadium Miami Gardens, Florida	ABC	W 48–10	31,989
November 30	12:00 p.m.	No. 1 Florida*	No. 2	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, Florida (rivalry) (College GameDay)	ABC	W 24–21	80,932
January 2	8:00 p.m.	vs. No. 3 Florida*	No. 1	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans (Sugar Bowl) (College GameDay)	ABC	L 20–52	78,344
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

^[2]

Roster

1996 Florida State Seminoles football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 1 Andre Cooper Sr WR 9 Peter Warrick   Fr QB 12 Thad Busby Jr WR 19 E. G. Green Jr RB 28 Warrick Dunn Sr OT 70 Tra Thomas Jr OT 71 Todd Fordham Sr OT 76 Walter Jones Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class CB 2 Samari Rolle Jr CB 11 Dexter Jackson So CB 15 Mario Edwards So FS 16 Sean Key So CB 23 Andrew Howard II So LB 40 Lamont Green So LB 45 Henri Crockett Sr LB 47 Vernon Crawford Sr DL 53 Corey Simon   Fr DE 55 Reinard Wilson Sr LB 56 Sam Cowart Sr DE 58 Peter Boulware Jr DL 85 Andre Wadsworth Jr DE 90 Greg Spires Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 3 Scott Bentley Sr K 29 Bill Gramatica Fr	Head coach Bobby Bowden Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible   Injured   Redshirt

Rankings

Main article: 1996 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

1997 NFL Draft

The following Seminoles were selected in the 1997 NFL Draft, including four players taken in the first fourteen picks.

Player	Position	Round	Overall	NFL team
Peter Boulware	Linebacker	1	4	Baltimore Ravens
Walter Jones	Offensive tackle	1	6	Seattle Seahawks
Warrick Dunn	Running back	1	12	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Reinard Wilson	Linebacker	1	14	Cincinnati Bengals
Henri Crockett	Linebacker	4	100	Atlanta Falcons
Vernon Crawford	Linebacker	5	159	New England Patriots
Byron Capers	Cornerback	7	225	Philadelphia Eagles

^[3]

References

1. 2018 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records (PDF). The National Collegiate Athletic Association. pp. 114–115. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
2. "1996 Football - Year in Review".
3. . Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on May 27, 2009. Retrieved February 6, 2021.