Even though I'm an Oregon Duck, I was heartbroken after the Rose Bowl. For the Pac-10's purpose, I really wanted ASU to win the national title. They were SOOO close!!

Every fan and alum of ASU when they see that final 1:40 of the Rose Bowl on replay thinks “they are going to hold them” That loss STILL stings to this day. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Countless outrageous/unbelievable games in 1996

I was living in Nebraska when the Sun Devils beat the hell out of the two-time defending national champion Huskers. It was an extremely impressive performance, and I really wish ASU had won the Rose Bowl and the national title.

I remember thinking at the end of the '95 season that I needed to buy ASU season tickets for the '96 season. Pretty much everybody laughed at me. My daughter and I went to every game including away games at ucla and arizona. I had Rose Bowl tickets but decided not to go. Today, I just shake my head everytime the '96 season is mentioned.

Crazy, I grew up in Cleveland and I had an insane New Years Eve party the night before and I nursed a hang over while watching this game. I never thought about the other side of this for Arizona State. I guess you can look at the current playoff structure and see OSU FLA Championship game.

Wow! Thank you for making this video. I was born in Phoenix and raised in Tempe, less than 5 miles from ASU campus. My high school was less than 1 mile from ASU. I was an ASU fan by proximity. Still am. I've been following ASU for 40 years. 3 ASU victories stick out to me; 1. Asu 19, Nebraska 0 2. 1987 Rose Bowl 3. ASU 56 UofA 14. Any ASU fan know these games. Obviously, the 1997 Rose Bowl was amazing. But, we lost that one

I very much enjoyed listening to the victory over Nebraska on the radio in Tucson. The announcer -- forget his name -- was so folksy and yet smart, one of those guys who knows how to let the crowd noise do its work. I could imagine the O-line blowing the 'Huskers off the ball all night.

Great video, I was a 12 year old kid during the 1996 season and was fortunate enough to have season tickets with my parents. This video was very well researched and did a great job of recapping that amazing but ultimately heartbreaking season. Yes this was as close as ASU has ever been to a National Championship even closer than the 1975 season (well done with your research). Thank you!

Pre-Gen-X era, Az. St. football had a winning cfb era when coached by Frank Kush, then Darryl Rogers.

Damn....this hurts to this day.

@americanfootballstories6788

3 жыл бұрын

Heartbreaking finish to a magical season!

@DevilzDance81

3 жыл бұрын

💯facts

The true "almost" national champs should be the 75 sundevils 12-0 beat Nebraska in the fiesta bowl but they gave it to Oklahoma cause ASU was in the WAC at the time and they couldn't give it to a non traditional conference

@americanfootballstories6788

3 жыл бұрын

Check out 35:20 in the video - Go Sun Devils!

@jusprazem1

3 жыл бұрын

@@americanfootballstories6788 I wonder how many five stars did AZ state have during that season. Not sure if that existed during those days. Today's recruiting makes it hard to believe that teams on the west coast had top recruiting classes. How was recruiting monitored without the star system?

@JJ-ju6ky

Жыл бұрын

Yep. Also, I think it was 1982...UofA beat us and there goes the undefeated season

@kek3908

Жыл бұрын

@@JJ-ju6ky Actually, we lost the week before to Washington at home, then Washington State on a snowy day upset Washington, offering us a chance to go to our first Rose Bowl, only to suffer a heart breaking loss on the road to Arizona. I remember the whole season like it was yesterday, but at least they knocked off Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.

@kek3908

Жыл бұрын

I was at the 1975 Fiesta Bowl, managed to get down on the field after the game for autographs from some of the players (I was 9 at the time, but took my ASU football very serious, lol). My father, mother and I sat in the middle of the Nebraska section wearing gold windbreakers and gold hard hats, it was pretty fun. We had traded tickets with some coaches from Creighton University via a family friend who was from Nebraska and living in Phoenix at the time and knew the coaches. My family is also from Nebraska and several still carry season tickets, and my daughter is now living in Omaha. A few years later in 1978 I was able to go to Camp Tontozona during a week long summer football camp that the ASU coaching staff put on, great memories from that week, being around Frank Kush and his staff. Later in life, I was taking my children trick or treating on Halloween in Tempe where we reside, and low and behold Frank Kush answered the door at one of the homes, that was a real treat as well.

1996 season was the 1st full season I really followed college football..This almost felt like a Playoff year even though this season came before the BCS and Playoffs..Texas derailed Nebraska..Michigan derailed Ohio State..Ohio State derailed Arizona State..Florida State actually beat Florida in regular season, but FSU was matched up vs. Florida in Sugar Bowl..That wasn't fair to FSU..Florida had a very good team, and it was going to be tough to beat Florida twice in one year..It should've been ASU vs. FSU in Orange Bowl for the national championship..

@robjohnson8861

3 жыл бұрын

96 was a joke. Bruce Synder (ASU)..Ha! Mackovic beats Ozzy. Ha! John Cooper...Ha! Spurrier gets a rematch. Most of the time the loser in the first game, wins the 2nd. Bowden 2/5 in NC games and a losing record to every Cane coach with a NC....count em, 4. Ha!

You should do more of these.

In 1975, I was a senior in high school and I _still_ believe ASU should have been voted national champion that year. In '76 they had everybody back, including John Jefferson, and media who had ignored the Sun Devils the previous year felt obligated to cover them big. Everybody back from the only undefeated team and people in Tempe were seeing a national title in January. Forget that. The best team in the nation started out the 1976 season 0-4. You read right. A total mystery. It was part of a pattern of ASU's ship coming in, then sinking.

@pinchevulpes

10 ай бұрын

Reminds me of the year 2008 we dropped to UNLV the week before Georgia with all the hype and lost against GA too

this is fantastic. thank you

@americanfootballstories6788

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you liked it! Go Sun Devils!

@robjohnson8861

3 жыл бұрын

@@americanfootballstories6788 Where can I download this game. Can you upload it and POST a note here so I can download it. I refer to this game a lot but I cannot find it.

@robjohnson8861

3 жыл бұрын

I mean the ASU/Neb game

Thanks for a great video! I had graduated from ASU three years earlier and suffered through some mediocre ASU seasons and too many losses to UofA. The ‘96 season was unbelievable but despite a talented defense they frequently gave up a lot of points. So when OSU got the ball back with 1:40 to go I had the sinking feeling we weren’t going to be able to hold on. Even with an ASU win, I always felt the poll voting still would have gone to Florida. Just to add, I was heartbroken when Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan. Great that ASU has honored him with a statue at the tunnel entrance to the field.

@JJ-ju6ky

Жыл бұрын

Florida had a loss. ASU would have been undefeated a d had victories over #1 Nebraska and a Rose Bowl victory over top 10 OSU. ASU would have been #1

The really unfair thing is that ALL FOUR Florida, Florida State, Arizona State, and Ohio State were all 11-1. Florida may have won the title by beating FSU, but they lost the Florida State in the regular season. They all four should have shared it.

I was 4 in 1996, growing up in Phx I was born into ASU football and was fortunate enough to attend the famous 19-0 game. That game and that season forever cemented me as a die hard fan. Thanks for this video!

@MikeGoesBadaBoom

Жыл бұрын

I was 3 at the time but I remember vividly seeing my big brother Jeff on the field, #44. Massive blocks for a fullback. That whole team had so much heart. I was at the rose bowl game but wasn’t old enough to appreciate their journey to see them robbed by the Buckeyes

8:35 not only did the fans tear down the goal posts, they carried them out of the stadium and threw them in the dry Salt River bed.

I never knew Arizona State was this good in the 90s! Thanks for posting this video!

@BAYAREA-kd1ig

3 жыл бұрын

They weren't that good for most of the decade, however they were amazing in 1996 and had a good team in 1997.

@csn6234

Жыл бұрын

Right, 532.5. ASU was mediocre-to-average in the early 1990s. Even when Bruce Snyder came along, the Sun Devils finished 3-8 in 1994 after finishing 6-5 during his first two seasons.

I was at a freshman at ASU in fall 2008. I wish at the time they referenced more seasons like this they could only think about the prior year 2007 at the time which was shortly lived

im from ohio so i loved it they got beat out there alot so they needed this cause last osu win was in 1974 but get video

1996: ASU’s Finest Season

Guess you totally forgot abut the Kush years huh? Kush was 176-54-1 and 6-1 in bowl games. Kush helped guide 38 college players to All-America honors and 128 players into the National Football League, including 10 first-round draft picks and 17 Pro Bowlers.

@americanfootballstories6788

3 жыл бұрын

Referenced the legendary Kush and 1975 at 35:21 mark

@brianarbenz7206

3 жыл бұрын

Kush had the most mixed record. In '74, ASU failed to achieve. Kush turned up the intensity, and ASU was undefeated. Then, everybody back in "76, and... forget about it.

The Nebraska game not was payback for the 1996 Arizona State Sun Devils that season was a dream going to Pasenda playing in the rose Bowl they went through their conference schedule unbeaten

@robjohnson8861

3 жыл бұрын

It was absolutely payback. Synder (ASU) said the blowout loss to Neb 95 hurt for weeks.

@JJ-ju6ky

Жыл бұрын

Total payback. Snyder was pissed ciz Nebraska was up like 70-14 in that game and decided they needed to add a last second td. Snyder was pissed

the 96 and 95 Ohio State teams were stacked and should have gone undefeated

@jusprazem1

3 жыл бұрын

I doubt that those Ohio State teams or Arizona state team could have lasted one half against the 1996 Gators. They probably would have had to implement the mercy rule. 😳

@robjohnson8861

3 жыл бұрын

John Cooper has "should have" tattooed on his ass.

I hated to root for Ohio St. that year but as a Gator fan I had to.

I don't think the struggle for Ohio State was Michigan in particular as much as it was the fact that those Ohio State teams had to deal with speed, talent depth and athleticism that the rest of their schedule doesn't present.

@americanfootballstories6788

3 жыл бұрын

OSU struggled to clear the Maize & Blue hurdle in the 1990s; you're right thought, plenty of talent on those Michigan rosters. Unbeaten Buckeye teams lost to Michigan in 1993, 1995, and 1996.

Theoretically, had Arizona State won the Rose Bowl and Florida State won the Sugar Bowl - there should have been one final game between them instead of sharing it or worse--it go solely to FSU.

@robjohnson8861

3 жыл бұрын

What are you talking about, FL won the Sugar after losing to FSU 33 days earlier. ASU was ranked #2, FL #3 ASU would have beaten #1 and #4, FL beat #1 (FSU) and #2, but lost to #2 (FSU). FL did play a championship game, however. Would have been a tough vote.

This new coach for ASU did not know we always had an attacking defense and right at the end he went into prevent defense which is really a joke if they had attacked I believe asu you definitely would have won..

1975 AzSt>1996 AzSt

# 83 had zero game awareness ! You know the last thing the players were told. Was to get down immediately after the catch! This idiot dances around for 3 seconds. Cost them atleast a chance at a long but makable FG. Still bugs me seeing him not go right down all these years later. And I'm not a ASU fan.

Desert swarm was way better🐻⬇️

@JJ-ju6ky

Жыл бұрын

Because they won a National Championship? Because they went to the Rose Bowl? OH, right....UofA never been to a Rose Bowl.

@MikeGoesBadaBoom

Жыл бұрын

Screw the U 🔱 ⬆️

Fork Up Go devils