| Sport: | football |
| Year: | 1996 |
| Team: | Nebraska Cornhuskers |
| Conference: | Big 12 Conference |
| Division: | North Division |
| Short Conf: | Big 12 |
| Coachrank: | 6 |
| Aprank: | 6 |
| Record: | 11–2 |
| Conf Record: | 8–0 |
| Head Coach: | Tom Osborne |
| Hc Year: | 24th |
| Def Coach: | Charlie McBride |
| Dc Year: | 16th |
| Off Scheme: | I formation |
| Def Scheme: | 4–3 |
| Stadium: | Memorial Stadium |
| Champion: | Big 12 North Division champion Orange Bowl champion |
| Bowl: | Orange Bowl |
| Bowl Result: | W 41–21 vs. Virginia Tech |
| Conf Champ: | Big 12 Championship Game |
| Conf Champ Result: | L 27–37 vs. Texas |
The 1996 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Tom Osborne and played their home games in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.
This was the first season for Nebraska in the Big 12 Conference, which took on that name after adding four schools from the disbanded Southwest Conference; the conference had been known as the Big Eight Conference since 1964, and was the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association before that. Nebraska was placed in the North Division with the four other Midwest schools in the conference, plus Colorado, all of which were in the conference prior to 1996; the Oklahoma schools joined with the former SWC members (all of which were in Texas) to form the South Division.
Nebraska participated in the first Big 12 Championship Game by winning the North Division. They were upset by the unranked winners of the South Division, Texas. They still played in an Alliance bowl, the Orange Bowl, where they beat Virginia Tech.
See also: 1996 NCAA Division I-A football rankings.
See also: 1996 NCAA Division I-A football rankings.
| Award | Name(s) | |
|---|---|---|
| All-America 1st team | Aaron Taylor, Jared Tomich, Grant Wistrom | |
| All-America 2nd team | Chris Dishman | |
| Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year | Grant Wistrom | |
| All-America Freshman 1st team | Ralph Brown | |
| All-Big 12 1st team | Chris Dishman, Jon Hesse, Jared Tomich, Mike Minter, Jason Peter, Aaron Taylor, Grant Wistrom | |
| All-Big 12 2nd team | Eric Anderson, Michael Booker, Kris Brown, Jeff Ogard, Jamel Williams | |
| All-Big 12 3rd team | Scott Frost, Terrell Farley, Ahman Green | |
| All-Big 12 honorable mention | Ralph Brown, DeAngelo Evans, Brendan Holbein, Vershan Jackson, Jesse Kosch, Brian Schuster, Eric Stokes, Jon Vedral, Jamel Williams | |
| Big 12 coach of the Year | Tom Osborne |
The following Nebraska players who participated in the 1996 season later moved on to the next level and joined a professional or semi-pro team as draftees or free agents.[3]