1997 Florida State Seminoles football team

The 1997 Florida State Seminoles football team represented the Florida State University as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by 22nd-year head coach Bobby Bowden, the Seminoles compiled an overall record of 11–1 with a mark of 8–0 in conference play, winning the ACC title. Florida State was invited to the Sugar Bowl, where the Seminoles defeated Ohio State. The team played home games at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida.

1997 Florida State Seminoles football
ACC champion Sugar Bowl champion
Sugar Bowl, W 31–14 vs. Ohio State
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 3
AP	No. 3
Record	11–1 (8–0 ACC)
Head coach	Bobby Bowden (22nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Mark Richt (4th season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Mickey Andrews (14th season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Doak Campbell Stadium
Seasons ← 1996 1998 →

1997 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 3 Florida State $		8	–	0					11	–	1
No. 6 North Carolina		7	–	1					11	–	1
Virginia		5	–	3					7	–	4
No. 25 Georgia Tech		5	–	3					7	–	5
Clemson		4	–	4					7	–	5
NC State		3	–	5					6	–	5
Wake Forest		3	–	5					5	–	6
Maryland		1	–	7					2	–	9
Duke		0	–	8					2	–	9
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 6	3:30 p.m.	at No. 23 USC*	No. 5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	ABC	W 14–7	72,783	[1]
September 13	3:30 p.m.	Maryland	No. 5	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ABC	W 50–7	72,238	[2]
September 20	3:30 p.m.	at No. 16 Clemson	No. 5	Memorial Stadium Clemson, SC (rivalry)	ABC	W 35–28	80,939	[3]
October 4	12:00 p.m.	Miami (FL)*	No. 4	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL (rivalry)	ABC	W 47–0	80,165	[4]
October 11	7:00 p.m.	at Duke	No. 4	Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC	PPV	W 51–27	21,557	[5]
October 18	3:30 p.m.	No. 21 Georgia Tech	No. 3	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ABC	W 38–0	78,157	[6]
October 25	7:00 p.m.	at Virginia	No. 3	Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA (Jefferson–Eppes Trophy)	ESPN	W 47–21	45,300	[7]
November 1	3:30 p.m.	NC State	No. 3	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ABC	W 48–35	71,415	[8]
November 8	7:30 p.m.	at No. 5 North Carolina	No. 3	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (College GameDay)	ESPN	W 20–3	62,000	[9]
November 15	12:00 p.m.	Wake Forest	No. 2	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL	JPS	W 58–7	70,026	[10]
November 22	3:30 p.m.	at No. 10 Florida*	No. 2	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL (rivalry, College GameDay)	CBS	L 29–32	85,677	[11]
January 1	8:00 p.m.	vs. No. 9 Ohio State*	No. 4	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, LA (Sugar Bowl)	ABC	W 31–14	67,289	[12]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

^[13]

Rankings

See also: 1997 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP	3 (7)	3 (6)	5 (6)	5 (4)	5 (1)	4 (1)	4 (1)	4 (1)	3 (3)	3 (9)	3 (8)	3 (5)	2 (23)	2 (24)	5	4	4	3
Coaches	4 (3)		5 (3)	6 (3)	5 (2)	4 (1)	4	4	3 (1)	3 (3)	3 (3)	2 (2)	1 (26)	1 (29)	5	4	4	3

Personnel

Roster

1997 Florida State Seminoles football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 9 Peter Warrick So QB 12 Thad Busby Sr WR 19 E. G. Green Sr OT 70 Tra Thomas Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class CB 2 Samari Rolle Sr CB 11 Dexter Jackson Jr CB 15 Mario Edwards Jr FS 16 Sean Key Jr LB 40 Lamont Green Jr DL 53 Corey Simon So DL 85 Andre Wadsworth Sr DE 90 Greg Spires Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Bobby Bowden Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Depth chart

Defense FS Dexter Jackson Todd Frier Robert Hammond MIKE WILL SAM Sam Cowart Theon Rackley Daryl Bush Lamont Green Deon Humphrey Tommy Polley Bobby Rhodes Olayemi Okegbola Kwaesi Palmer Hank Grant Jean Jeune ROVER Shevin Smith Derrick Gibson Sean Key CB Samari Rolle Troy Saunders Abdual Howard DE DT DT DE Greg Spires Jerry Johnson Julian Pittman Andre Wadsworth Tony Bryant Bryne Monroe Larry Smith Roland Seymour Sean Mitchell David Tulloch Corey Simon Chris Walker CB Dexter Jackson Mario Edwards ⋅ Offense WR E.G. Green Damien Harrell Jason Floyd LT LG C RG RT Tra Thomas Jason Whitaker Kevin Long Donald Heaven Ross Brannon Tarlos Crummitie Justin Amman Jared Moon Otis Duhart Ronald Boldin Chris Korb Jerry Carmichael Eric Thomas Jeremy Brett Tarlos Thomas TE Melvin Pearsall Myron Jackson Pooh Bear Williams Stacy Davis WR Laveranues Coles Ron Dugans Germaine Stringer QB Thad Busby Chris Weinke Dan Kendra RB Travis Minor Dee Feaster Jeff Chaney Davy Ford FB Lamar Glenn Damon Carroll Khalid Abdullah Special teams PK Matt Munyon P Keith Cottrell