1997 NCAA Division I-A Football Season
The 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season, play of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division I-A level, began in late summer 1997 and culminated with the major bowl games in early January 1998. The national championship was split for the third time in the 1990s. The Michigan Wolverines finished the season atop the AP Poll after completing a 12–0 campaign with a Big Ten Conference championship and a victory in the Rose Bowl over Washington State. The Nebraska Cornhuskers garnered the top ranking in the Coaches' Poll with a 13–0 record, a Big 12 Conference championship, and a win over Tennessee in the Orange Bowl. Michigan's Charles Woodson, who played primarily at cornerback, but also saw time on offense as a wide receiver and on special teams as a punt returner, won the Heisman Trophy, becoming the first primarily defensive player to win the award. The 1997 season was the third and final season in whi ...
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1997 Penn State Nittany Lions Football Team
The 1997 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University in the 1997 Big Ten Conference football season. The team was coached by Joe Paterno and played its home games in Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania. Schedule Roster NFL Draft Three Nittany Lions were drafted in the 1998 NFL Draft. References Penn State Penn State Nittany Lions football seasons Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy seasons Penn State Nittany Lions football The Penn State Nittany Lions team represents the Pennsylvania State University in college football. The Nittany Lions compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Big Ten Conference, which they joined in 1993 a ...

1997 Washington State Cougars Football Team
The 1997 Washington State Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Washington State University in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their ninth season under head coach Mike Price, the Cougars went 10–1 in the regular season (7–1 in Pac-10), won the conference championship, lost to #1 Michigan in the Rose Bowl, and outscored their opponents 483 to 296. They played their home games on campus at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington, and were ninth in the final rankings. The team's statistical leaders included Ryan Leaf with 3,968 passing yards, Michael Black with 1,181 rushing yards, and Chris Jackson with 1,005 receiving yards. Freshman defensive back Lamont Thompson led the team with 6 interceptions. The Rose Bowl appearance was the first for Washington State in 67 years; the next was five years later. Leaf decided to forgo his remaining season of eligibility ( 1998) and entered t ...
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1997 North Carolina Tar Heels Football Team
The 1997 North Carolina Tar Heels football team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Tar Heels played their home games at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and competed in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The team was coached by Mack Brown finished the season 11–1 overall, 7–1 in the conference. At the end of the season, Brown left for the University of Texas at Austin and did not coach in the Gator Bowl victory over Virginia Tech. Carl Torbush, who was the defensive coordinator during the regular season, became the head coach when Brown left. North Carolina credits the regular season to Brown and the Gator Bowl victory to Torbush. Schedule Roster Rankings Game summaries Vs. Virginia Tech (Gator Bowl) Players in the 1998 NFL Draft References {{North Carolina Tar Heels football navbox North Carolina North Carolina Tar Heels football seasons Gator Bowl ...
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1997 Florida State Seminoles Football Team
The 1997 Florida State Seminoles football team represented Florida State University in the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Bobby Bowden and played their home games at Doak Campbell Stadium. Schedule Roster Rankings References Florida State Florida State Seminoles football seasons Atlantic Coast Conference football champion seasons Sugar Bowl champion seasons Florida State Seminoles football The Florida State Seminoles football team represents Florida State University (variously Florida State or FSU) in the sport of American football. The Florida State Seminoles, Seminoles compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (F ...

Flea Kicker
In college football, the Flea Kicker was a notable play executed by the Nebraska Cornhuskers against the Missouri Tigers on November 8, 1997 that sent the game into overtime and resulted in a win for the Cornhuskers who went on to share the NCAA Division I-A National Championship with the Michigan Wolverines. The final minutes of the game were seen by many people on ABC, after other regional games ended. Background The Cornhuskers, who had won national championships for the 1994 and 1995 seasons, went into the game with an 8–0 record and a No. 1 ranking in the AP Poll. They had only given up seven points in their last three games and had beaten the Tigers eighteen straight times. The Tigers were unranked with a 6–3 record, and in the school’s history, had never beaten a No. 1 ranked team. The play In the fourth quarter, Tigers quarterback Corby Jones completed a pass to Eddie Brooks to give Missouri a 38–31 lead, giving Missouri fans hope that they would beat Nebraska f ...
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1997 Missouri Tigers Football Team
The 1997 Missouri Tigers football team represented the University of Missouri during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. The 1997 Tigers went 7–5 (5–3 in Big 12 play), ending a streak of 13 consecutive losing seasons. However, the Tigers lost to Colorado State, 35–24, in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. They played their home games at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri. They were members of the Big 12 Conference in the North Division. The team was coached by head coach Larry Smith. The loss to eventual National Champion #1 ranked Nebraska in overtime came after the infamous Flea Kicker play. This was a deflection reception off an unintentionally kicked pass as the receiver that was falling and tried pull the ball to his chest with his foot, resulting in a deflection off the foot that another receiver was able to dive a catch. Schedule Coaching staff Game summaries Eastern Michigan Kansas Tulsa Ohio State Iowa State Kansas State Texa ...
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1997 Texas Tech Red Raiders Football Team
The 1997 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team represented Texas Tech University as a member of the Big 12 Conference during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their 11th season under head coach Spike Dykes, the Red Raiders compiled a 6–5 record (5–3 against Big 12 opponents), finished in a tie for second place in Southern Division of the Big 12, and outscored opponents by a combined total of 245 to 217. The team played its home games at Clifford B. and Audrey Jones Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. Schedule References {{Texas Tech Red Raiders football navbox Texas Tech Texas Tech Red Raiders football seasons Texas Tech Red Raiders football The Texas Tech Red Raiders football program is a college football team that represents Texas Tech University (variously "Texas Tech" or "TTU"). The team competes as a member of the Big 12 Conference, which is a Division I Football Bowl Subdivis ...

Tom Osborne
Thomas William Osborne (born February 23, 1937) is a former American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and politician from Nebraska. He served as head football coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers from 1973 to 1997 (25 seasons). After being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999, Osborne was elected to Congress in 2000 from Nebraska's third district as a Republican. He served three terms (2001–2007), returned to the University of Nebraska as athletic director in 2007, and retired in 2013. Osborne played college football as a quarterback and wide receiver at Hastings College, and soon after finishing his brief NFL career he was hired by Nebraska head coach Bob Devaney as an assistant. Osborne was named Devaney's successor in 1973, and over the next 25 years established himself as one of the best coaches in college football history with his trademark I-formation offense and revolutionary strength, conditioning, and nutrition programs. He ...
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Bowl Championship Series
The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, including an opportunity for the top two teams to compete in the BCS National Championship Game. The system was in place for the 1998 through 2013 seasons and in 2014 was replaced by the College Football Playoff. The BCS relied on a combination of polls and computer selection methods to determine relative team rankings, and to narrow the field to two teams to play in the BCS National Championship Game held after the other college bowl games (the game rotated among four existing bowl games from the 1998 to 2005 season, and was a separate game from the 2006 to 2013 seasons). The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) was contractually bound to vote the winner of this game as the BCS National Champion and the contract signed by each conference ...
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Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard work. It is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust in early December before the postseason bowl games. The award was created by the Downtown Athletic Club in 1935 to recognize "the most valuable college football player east of the Mississippi", and was first awarded to University of Chicago halfback Jay Berwanger. After the death in October 1936 of the club's athletic director, John Heisman, the award was named in his honor and broadened to include players west of the Mississippi. Heisman had been active in college athletics as a football player; a head football, basketball, and baseball coach; and an athletic director. It is the oldest of several overall awards in college football, including the Maxwell Award, Walter Camp Award, and t ...
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Punt Returner
A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position such as wide receiver, defensive back, or running back. The special teams counterpart of a return specialist is a kicking specialist. According to All-American Venric Mark, "Returning punts is harder. You have to judge the ball more, you have to know when to fair catch and when not to. You can't be a superhero and try to catch everything. With kickoff returns, you catch the ball and — boom — you're going." Kickoff returner A kickoff returner (KR) is the player on special teams who is primarily responsible for catching the opposing team's kickoff and attempting to run it towards the end zone to score a touchdown. If the ball is kicked into his own end zone, the kick returner must assess the situation on the field while the ball i ...
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