The 1996 UCF Golden Knights football season was the eighteenth season for the team and Gene McDowell's twelfth as the head coach of the Golden Knights. McDowell's 1996 team compiled a 5–6 overall record. The season marked UCF's first as a member of Division I-A, officially joining on September 1, 1996. At that time, the Knights became the first football program to play in four different NCAA divisions.

Daunte Rachard Culpepper is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, primarily with the Minnesota Vikings. He played college football for the UCF Knights and was selected by the Vikings in the first round of the 1999 NFL draft.