The 1996 Outback Bowl featured the

Auburn Tigers The Auburn Tigers are the athletic teams representing Auburn University, a public four-year university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) a ...

and the Penn State Nittany Lions. This was the tenth edition of the game previously known as the Hall of Fame Bowl, and the first one to use the

Outback Bowl The ReliaQuest Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Tampa, Florida. The event was known as the Hall of Fame Bowl from 1986 to 1995 and the Outback Bowl from 1996 to 2022. It was held at Tampa Stadium from 1986 until 1999, when it ...

name, with sponsorship from

Outback Steakhouse Outback Steakhouse is an American chain of Australian-themed casual dining restaurants, serving American cuisine, based in Tampa, Florida. The chain has over 1,000 locations in 23 countries throughout North America, South America, Asia, and Aus ...

. Penn State turned a close first half into a blowout, with a big third-quarter run, and ended up winning by a score of 43-14. Penn State's total of 43 points would stand as an Outback Bowl record for 20 years, until it was surpassed by

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

in the 2016 Outback Bowl.

Summary

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 25-yard pass from quarterback Patrick Nix to Robert Baker. Auburn claimed a 7–3 lead after the successful

extra point Extra, Xtra, or The Extra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * The Extra (1962 film), ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * The Extra (2005 film), ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * Extra (newspaper), ...

. 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 two-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 a two-point conversion, 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 unanswered points by Penn State, the score stood at 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.

References

{{Penn State Nittany Lions bowl game navbox

20th century in Tampa, Florida Auburn Tigers football bowl games January 1996 sports events in the United States Penn State Nittany Lions football bowl games ReliaQuest Bowl