1996 Outback Bowl
| 1996 Outback Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 1, 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1995 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Tampa Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Tampa, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Bobby Engram (Penn State WR) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Ron Franklin, Mike Gottfried | ||||||||||||||||||||||
The 1996 edition to the Outback Bowl featured the Auburn Tigers, and the Penn State Nittany Lions. Penn State turned a close first half into a blowout, with a big third quarter run, and ended up winning 43-14. Penn State's 43 points remain to this day a record in the Outback Bowl.
The first quarter was dominated by defense, as the only points came on a 19-yard field goal from Penn State placekicker Brett Conway. With that chip shot, Penn State opened up a 3-0 lead. With 12:39 left in the second quarter, Auburn posted the first touchdown of the game, with a beautiful 25-yard pass from quarterback Patrick Nix to Robert Baker. Auburn claimed a 7-3 lead after the successful PAT.
Auburn's defense continued its stellar play, giving up field goals of 22 and 38 yards to fall behind 9-7. Then with just 5 seconds in the half, Penn State quarterback Wally Richardson threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Mike Archie, to make it a 16-7 halftime lead.
Penn State opened the second half on a tear, thanks to effective adjustments. Just 5 minutes into the second half, Richardson earned his second touchdown pass of the game, a 9-yard spiral to Bobby Engram, who later played in the nfl, to take a 23-7 lead. Just 2 and a half minutes later, Richardson threw his third touchdown pass, a 4 yarder to Steven Pitts making it 29-7. Penn State elected to go for 2, but failed.
Halfback Curtis Enis scored from 1 yard out to make it 36-7. A minute later, Richardson hooked up with Bobby Engram, for their second touchdown of the game, a 20 yarder. After 40 consecutive unanswered points by Penn State, they ran the score up to 43-7. Auburn scored one more time in the fourth quarter, on a 16-yard run by Kevin McLeod, making the final score 43-14.