1997 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

The 1997 West Virginia Mountaineers football team represented West Virginia University in the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. It was the Mountaineers' 105th overall and 7th season as a member of the Big East Conference (Big East). The team was led by head coach Don Nehlen, in his 18th year, and played their home games at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia. They finished the season with a record of seven wins and five losses (7–5 overall, 4–3 in the Big East) and with a loss in the Carquest Bowl against Georgia Tech.

1997 West Virginia Mountaineers football
Carquest Bowl, L 30–35 vs. Georgia Tech
Conference	Big East Conference
1997 record	7–5 (4–3 Big East)
Head coach	Don Nehlen (18th season)
Home stadium	Mountaineer Field (Capacity: 63,500)

1997 Big East Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 21 Syracuse $		6	–	1					9	–	4
No. 23 Virginia Tech		5	–	2					7	–	5
West Virginia		4	–	3					7	–	5
Pittsburgh		4	–	3					6	–	6
Miami (FL)		3	–	4					5	–	6
Boston College		3	–	4					4	–	7
Temple		3	–	4					3	–	8
Rutgers		0	–	7					0	–	11
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	Noon	Marshall*		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia (Friends of Coal Bowl)	ESPN+	W 42–31	65,492
September 6	12:30 p.m.	East Carolina*		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	ESPN	W 24–17	51,143
September 13	Noon	at Boston College		Alumni Stadium Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts	ESPN	L 24–31	39,200
September 27	3:30 p.m.	at Miami (FL)		Miami Orange Bowl Miami	CBS	W 28–17	39,270
October 4	Noon	Rutgers		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	ESPN+	W 48–0	51,737
October 11	1:00 p.m.	at Maryland*		Byrd Stadium College Park, Maryland (rivalry)		W 31–14	31,210
October 25	3:30 p.m.	No. 19 Virginia Tech	No. 21	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia (Black Diamond Trophy)	CBS	W 30–17	63,649
November 1	7:30 p.m.	at Syracuse	No. 17	Carrier Dome Syracuse, New York (Ben Schwartzwalder Trophy)	ESPN	L 10–40	49,273
November 15	1:00 p.m.	Temple		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia		W 41–21	37,061
November 22	2:30 p.m.	at Notre Dame*	No. 22	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, Indiana	NBC	L 14–21	80,225
November 28	2:30 p.m.	Pittsburgh		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia (Backyard Brawl)	CBS	L 38–41 ^3OT	48,044
December 29	7:30 p.m.	vs. Georgia Tech		Pro Player Stadium Miami Gardens, Florida (Carquest Bowl)	TBS	L 30–35	28,262
*Non-conference game Rankings from Coaches' Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

• Reference:[1]

Personnel

1997 West Virginia Mountaineers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class OT 65 Sam Austin QB 10 Marc Bulger So C 67 Eric de Groh Jr OG 62 Steve Ford Jr WR 16 Shawn Foreman Jr RB 9 Curtis Keaton WR 80 Carlos Osegueda Fr OT 77 Solomon Page So OG 61 Bryan Pukenas Jr TE 87 Chad Wable Sr FB 34 Leroy White Sr RB 20 Amos Zereoué So	Defense Pos. # Name Class CB 3 Perlo Bastien So DE 45 Bob Baum LB 1 Damon Cogdell SS 33 Barrett Green So LB 52 John Hadley Sr LB 50 Steve Lippe Sr DT 78 Henry Slay Sr DE 55 Gary Stills Jr CB 28 Nate Terry FS 11 Gary Thompkins So NT 96 John Thornton Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 7 Bryan Baumann Sr K 47 Jay Taylor So	Head coach Don Nehlen Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Game summaries

Marshall

1 2 3 4 Total Thundering Herd 3 7 21 0 31 • Mountaineers 21 7 0 14 42 Date: August 30 Location: Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV Game start: Noon EST Game attendance: 65,492 Game weather: 70° F, Partly Cloudy and Mild, Wind NW 4 mph Referee: Jim Maconaghy TV announcers (ESPN+): John Sanders and Jeff Bostic

Scoring summary 1 12:30 WVU Gary Thompkins 7-yard blocked punt return (Jay Taylor kick) WVU 7–0 6:04 WVU Amos Zereoué 10-yard run (Jay Taylor kick) WVU 14–0 2:24 MAR Billy Malashevich 25-yard field goal WVU 14–3 0:02 WVU Amos Zereoué 52-yard run (Jay Taylor kick) WVU 21–3 2 10:51 WVU Curtis Keaton 11-yard run (Jay Taylor kick) WVU 28–3 3:34 MAR LaVorn Colclough 24-yard pass from Chad Pennington (Billy Malashevich kick) WVU 28–10 3 13:08 MAR Randy Moss 15-yard pass from Chad Pennington (Billy Malashevich kick) WVU 28–17 9:24 MAR Llow Turner 53-yard run (Billy Malashevich kick) WVU 28–24 0:35 MAR Randy Moss 25-yard pass from Chad Pennington (Billy Malashevich kick) MAR 31–28 4 11:07 WVU Chad Wable 15-yard pass from Marc Bulger (Jay Taylor kick) WVU 35–31 7:56 WVU Amos Zereoué 1-yard run (Jay Taylor kick) WVU 42–31

See also: 1997 Marshall Thundering Herd football team and Friends of Coal Bowl

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–0	1923	W 81–0

[2]

Maryland

See also: 1997 Maryland Terrapins football team and Maryland–West Virginia football rivalry

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
16–16–2	1996	W 13–0

Virginia Tech

See also: 1997 Virginia Tech Hokies football team and Black Diamond Trophy

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
25–16–1	1996	L 14–31

Syracuse

See also: 1997 Syracuse Orangemen football team and Ben Schwartzwalder Trophy

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
18–26	1996	L 7–30

Pittsburgh

See also: 1997 Pittsburgh Panthers football team and Backyard Brawl

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
31–55–3	1996	W 34–0

Georgia Tech (Carquest Bowl)

Main article: 1997 Carquest Bowl

See also: 1997 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–1	1954	L 19–42

References

1. "WVU 1997 Schedule". The West Virginia University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Archived from the original on 2012-05-05. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
2. "Marshall Makes It Close". Los Angeles Times. August 31, 1997. Retrieved January 5, 2019.