1996 BYU Cougars football team

The 1996 Brigham Young Cougars football team represented the Brigham Young University in the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. They were the first team during the so-called "Modern era" (post 1937) to play 15 games in a season, and the only one to do it when Division I-A teams normally played 11 regular season games. Firstly, a team was able to play a designated "kickoff" opening game and not have it count against the allowed game total, then they played at Hawaii which didn't count against the allowed total. That allowed BYU to play 13 regular season games. They then played a conference championship game and a bowl game in the Cotton Bowl Classic bringing the total to 15 games.

1996 BYU Cougars football
WAC champion WAC Mountain Division champion Cotton Bowl Classic champion
WAC Championship Game, W 28–25 OT vs. Wyoming
Cotton Bowl Classic, W 19–15 vs. Kansas State
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
Division	Mountain Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 5
AP	No. 5
Record	14–1 (8–0 WAC)
Head coach	LaVell Edwards (25th season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Norm Chow (1st season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Roger French (16th season)
Offensive scheme	Pro spread
Defensive coordinator	Ken Schmidt (6th season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Cougar Stadium (capacity: 65,000)

During the 2002 and 2003 seasons teams were allowed to schedule 12 games as well as a "kickoff" game. As a result, the 2003 Kansas State Wildcats became only the second team to play a 15-game season, finishing with an 11-4 record. The kickoff game exemption was eliminated in 2005, but the Hawaii exemption remains in place.

Since 2014, it has again been possible for teams to play a 15-game schedule without playing in Hawaii because of the 4 team playoff system. The next team to do this without the aid of the playoff would be the 2019 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors.