38 10 14 17 0 7 | Wisconsin 14 17 0 7 38 | |
The 1996 edition to the Copper bowl was the 8th edition to the bowl game. It featured the Wisconsin Badgers, and the Utah Utes.
Game summary
Wisconsin scored first on a 38-yard touchdown run from Mike Samuel to open a 7–0 lead. Utah's Daniel Pulsipher answered with a 24-yard field goal to make it 7–3 Wisconsin. Wisconsin's Ron Dayne scored on a 40-yard touchdown run to make it 14–3 Wisconsin.
In the second quarter, Wisconsin's Cyrill Weems intercepted a Utah pass, and returned it 82 yards for a touchdown, making it 21–3 Wisconsin. John Hall added a 38-yard field goal to make it 24–3. Ron Dayne added a 3-yard touchdown run to make it 31–3 Wisconsin at halftime. In the third quarter, Juan Johnson scored on a 1-yard run to make it 31–10. Ron Dayne's third touchdown run of the game, a 1 yarder, made the final score Wisconsin 38, Utah 10.
Freshman running back Ron Dayne would finish the game with a whopping 30 carries for 246 yards and three touchdowns, breaking the Copper Bowl rushing record and the Big Ten single-season rushing record with the accumulated yardage. Ironically, this yardage (and the yardage gained in his other three bowl game appearances) is not included in Dayne's NCAA record-breaking career rushing total of 6,397 yards, as it would be for any back trying to break the record today. Dayne was named the MVP of the game.