1997 Florida Gators football team

The 1997 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. The season was the eighth for Steve Spurrier as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. Spurrier's 1997 Florida Gators finished with a 10–2 overall record and a 6–2 record in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), tying for second place among the six SEC Eastern Division teams.[2]

1997 Florida Gators football
Florida Citrus Bowl champion
Florida Citrus Bowl, W 21–6 vs. Penn State
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Division	Eastern Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 6
AP	No. 4
1997 record	10–2 (6–2 SEC)
Head coach	Steve Spurrier (8th season)
Offensive coordinator	Steve Spurrier
Defensive coordinator	Bob Stoops (2nd season)
Home stadium	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (Capacity: 83,000)[1]

1997 Southeastern Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Eastern Division
No. 7 Tennessee x$		7	–	1					11	–	2
No. 10 Georgia		6	–	2					10	–	2
No. 4 Florida		6	–	2					10	–	2
South Carolina		3	–	5					5	–	6
Kentucky		2	–	6					5	–	6
Vanderbilt		0	–	8					3	–	8
Western Division
No. 11 Auburn xy		6	–	2					10	–	3
No. 13 LSU x		6	–	2					9	–	3
No. 22 Ole Miss		4	–	4					8	–	4
Mississippi State		4	–	4					7	–	4
Alabama		2	–	6					4	–	7
Arkansas		2	–	6					4	–	7
Championship: Tennessee 30, Auburn 29
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	Southern Miss*	No. 2	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL	ESPN2	W 21–6	85,439
September 6	Central Michigan*	No. 2	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL	PPV	W 82–6	85,347
September 20	No. 4 Tennessee	No. 3	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	CBS	W 33–20	85,714
September 27	at Kentucky	No. 1	Commonwealth Stadium Lexington, KY	CBS	W 55–28	59,244
October 4	Arkansas	No. 1	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL	ESPN2	W 56–7	85,253
October 11	at No. 14 LSU	No. 1	Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA (rivalry)	ESPN	L 21–28	80,677
October 18	at No. 6 Auburn	No. 7	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL (rivalry)	CBS	W 24–10	85,244
November 1	vs. No. 14 Georgia	No. 6	Alltel Stadium Jacksonville, FL (rivalry)	CBS	L 17–37	84,297
November 8	Vanderbilt	No. 13	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL	JPS	W 20–7	85,305
November 15	at South Carolina	No. 12	Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, SC	JPS	W 48–21	80,072
November 22	No. 2 Florida State*	No. 10	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	CBS	W 32–29	85,677
January 1, 1998	vs. No. 11 Penn State*	No. 6	Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, FL (Florida Citrus Bowl)	ABC	W 21–6	72,940
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Primary source: 2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide.[2]

Personnel

1997 Florida Gators football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB Noah Brindise WR Jacquez Green QB Doug Johnson WR Travis McGriff RB Fred Taylor	Defense Pos. # Name Class CB Tony George	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K Collins Cooper  So	Head coach Steve Spurrier Coordinators/assistant coaches Bob Stoops Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

References

1. University of Florida Sports Information Department. "Florida 1997 Football Guide" (PDF). floridagators.com. University Athletic Association, Inc. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
2. 2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide Archived 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, p. 107 (2015). Retrieved August 16, 2015.