We recognized the 1996 Stanford football team this past Saturday on its 20th anniversary, as part of Reunion Homecoming weekend. The 1996 Cardinal squad finished the season with an improbable five-game winning streak, culminating in a 38-0 thrashing of heavily favored Michigan State in the Sun Bowl. That win over the Nick Saban-led Spartans remains the largest margin of victory in Stanford bowl game history, a sharp contrast to the challenging 2-5 start to the campaign.
"That was a tale of two seasons," says former tight end Greg Clark, who later played five years in the NFL. "I don't think I've been a part of any season that had a turnaround as historic as that."
While the Cardinal featured plenty of talented players from Bill Walsh's fabled 1993-94 recruiting classes, there were key spots with critical inexperience to start the year.
"A lot of us were redshirt freshmen," says former quarterback Chad Hutchinson, Stanford's two-sport star who would go on to play in both the NFL and MLB. "We were so raw and young. The minute we slowed down, we started to get in the right protection and schematic."
The nadir for Stanford came in Corvallis, when the Cardinal was upset by an Oregon State team riding a 15-game losing streak and 12-game Pac-10 skid. Young starters on the Stanford offensive line struggled to protect its quarterback. Hutchinson was sacked 11 times, an Oregon State school record.
"In my opinion, this is the lowest point we've been at since I've been the coach," said second-year head coach Tyrone Willingham.
Stanford (2-5) found itself on the road again two weeks later at the Rose Bowl. On this day, the Cardinal came back to win at UCLA in the final minute, 21-20. Hutchinson completed all seven pass attempts for 76 yards on the game-winning drive.
"We started playing with more confidence, and it started with Chad running the show," says former wide receiver Marlon Evans, now the CEO of startup accelerator GSVlabs. "We were a little more cautious early in the season, feeling a bit of the void after the Liberty Bowl seniors had left."
Clark points to a specific moment in the UCLA game, when he saw the entire season turn.
"Chad rolled out and got hit under the chin as he was running out of bounds," says Clark. "The look in his eyes after that play was different than we had seen all season: determination, fury. There was no longer the look of a freshman. He grabbed the bull by the horns and led our team in a different way than before. It brought everyone together on the team."
One key play came late in the second quarter, when Hutchinson threw a sideline fade pattern to redshirt freshman Troy Walters. The 5-foot-8 flanker leapt above the Bruin defender, who fell to the ground while Walters ran for a 50-yard touchdown. The future Biletnikoff Award winner and Stanford record holder had his breakout that day: eight receptions for 144 yards.
"He could get open at will, and the rest was history," says Evans. "We had a lot of weapons in the backfield. With Troy, we realized that we could take the top off."
"I knew he could get open," says Hutchinson. "Nobody knew that this 5-foot-8 receiver could jump out of the gym. There's no way he could make that catch and stay in bounds."
Hutchinson was gaining confidence and experience, while his offensive line was solidifying their protection. The first-year Cardinal quarterback was in only his second season playing the position. Hutchinson found football as a freshman in high school, when he played defense until a switch to quarterback his senior year.
"Chad Hutchinson was both young and new," says former defensive tackle Carl Hansen, now a vice president at CBRE. "He was one of the best all-around athletes I had been around in my life."
Stanford rode its wave to four straight Pac-10 victories to close the season. After the dramatic win at UCLA, the Cardinal clipped USC in another comeback win, 24-20. The Stanford defense held the Trojans to 19 yards rushing after halftime, while the offense scored 17 unanswered points.
The Cardinal continued to surge. The defense sacked Ryan Leaf four times, and Walters ran back a 75-yard punt return en route to a 33-17 win over Washington State. Stanford trampled Cal in the 99th Big Game, 42-21, with Hutchinson throwing for three touchdowns, running back Mike Mitchell running for 124 yards, and defensive end Kailee Wong returning an interception for a 53-yard score.
"We were pretty talented on defense, though there was not a lot of depth," says Hansen. "It was easier to play defense when the offense played well. They controlled the game and possessed the ball. It gave us more confidence."
Stanford had climbed out of a 2-5 hole to a third-place finish in the Pac-10, earning a berth in the Sun Bowl. Cardinal seniors to freshmen were elated. They prepared to face Big Ten foe Michigan State with every belief in their abilities.
"I don't know if I have been an another team as confident as that," says Clark. "We felt invincible, as far as playing football."
Michigan State, in contrast, had seen its hunt for a Big Ten Championship falter with losses in two of its final three games to close the regular season. The Cardinal could sense a difference between the two teams during their week together in El Paso, Texas.
"They were honestly overconfident that week, and it motivated us," says Clark of the Spartans. "We were an underdog and disrespected. There were a number of comments made throughout that week. You could feel the air of overconfidence."
"Motivation-wise, everyone knows that Nick Saban runs a tight ship," says Hutchinson. "But I don't feel like they were as prepared as we were."
"We took the game seriously because we were starting to click and saw it as a springboard for the next year," says Hansen. "We comported ourselves in a business-like manner in El Paso. I don't think Michigan State took it as seriously. I know we saw them out in Juarez one night partaking in the festivities a little harder than we did."
The tables had turned for Stanford's veterans, who had painfully experienced the other side of the bowl motivation ledger in 1995, when the Cardinal lost 19-13 to East Carolina in the Liberty Bowl.
"It was almost the exact opposite of the year before," says Evans. "We felt like the Liberty Bowl was a slap in the face. We went through the motions and ended up losing to an East Carolina team we should have beaten.
"Nobody thought after 2-5 that we were going to a bowl game, so we were just excited and pumped to have that opportunity. Michigan State looked like they were going through the motions … Then we put the hammer on them."
The scoring in Stanford's 38-0 Sun Bowl beatdown began with a first-quarter interception by safety Josh Madsen. He scrambled across the field and then pitched the ball to dynamic cornerback Leroy Pruitt, who raced 50 yards to the end zone. Michigan State was shell shocked.
The Stanford offense surged next, and Hutchinson led three straight scoring drives with numbing precision. The Cardinal coaches unveiled a no-huddle offense, for which the Spartans had no answer.
"They were so gassed, we could run anything," says Hutchinson.
"It happened so quickly, Michigan State honestly didn't know what hit them," says Clark.
Hansen vividly remembers facing future Pro Bowl tackle Flozell Adams, who waved the white flag asking, "Let's just slow down."
Hutchinson set a Sun Bowl record for passing efficiency with 22-of-28 throwing for 226 yards. Hansen and Wong each recorded a pair of sacks, and the defense held Michigan State to 68 yards rushing. Stanford's special teams flashed with a Walters 50-yard punt return and a blocked punt returned for a touchdown.
"It's hard to put into words what it felt like," says Evans. "It was so much fun. We could do whatever we wanted, when we wanted. The coaches felt like they could call anything. Our entire team was in a zone."
It was a fantastic finish to the 'tale of two seasons' in 1996 on The Farm.