Marshall University Athletics
1996 Marshall Football Team Honored on Homecoming Weekend
10/20/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
Huntington, WV - M Club welcomed the 1996 I-AA national champion Marshall football team last weekend for a homecoming reunion. The players and their families were treated to a reception dinner on Friday as well as a tour of the facilities and pregame tailgate on Saturday. The nearly 40 players in attendance were honored prior to the kickoff of the Florida Atlantic game along with Head Coach Bob Pruett.
Pruett told Chuck McGill of HerdZone, "A lot of times when you change staff people want to run players off. We were tackling people at the door because we wanted to keep them all."
The team celebrated the 20th anniversary of a historic season in which they finished 15-0 and won every game by double digits. The 1996 Thundering Herd were ranked no. 1 nationally throughout the entire season in what is now the FCS. Their scoring total of 658 points still stands as a Marshall single season record as they beat opponent by a staggering 30 points per game.
Aaron Ferguson is a former lineman and team captain for the 1996 team. He said to McGill, "When you add a Randy Moss to a team like we already had coming back, we knew at that point it wasn't about if we were going to win, it was about how bad we were going to beat the other team." The historic team capped off their memorable season with a 49-29 win over reigning I-AA national champion Montana. For more information on the next M Club sponsored event, call Big Green at 304-696-4661 or email biggreen@marshall.edu.
