1997 UCLA Bruins football team

The 1997 UCLA Bruins football team represented the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as a member of the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by second-year head coach Bob Toledo, the Bruins compiled an overall record of 10–2 with a mark of 7–1 in conference play, sharing the Pac-10 title with Washington State. UCLA was invited to the Cotton Bowl Classic, where the Bruins defeated Texas A&M. Though the Bruins were down 16–7 at the half, Cade McNown, the offensive MVP of the game, led the team to a 29–23 victory. UCLA was ranked No. 5 in both the final AP poll and the final Coaches Poll. The team played home games at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

1997 UCLA Bruins football
Pac-10 co-champion Cotton Bowl Classic champion
Cotton Bowl Classic, W 29–23 vs. Texas A&M
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 5
AP	No. 5
Record	10–2 (7–1 Pac-10)
Head coach	Bob Toledo (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Al Borges (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Rocky Long (2nd season)
Home stadium	Rose Bowl
Seasons ← 1996 1998 →

1997 Pacific-10 Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 9 Washington State +		7	–	1					10	–	2
No. 5 UCLA +		7	–	1					10	–	2
No. 14 Arizona State		6	–	2					9	–	3
No. 18 Washington		5	–	3					8	–	4
Arizona		4	–	4					7	–	5
USC		4	–	4					6	–	5
Oregon		3	–	5					7	–	5
Stanford		3	–	5					5	–	6
California		1	–	7					3	–	8
Oregon State		0	–	8					3	–	8
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
August 30	12:30 pm	at Washington State		Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	ABC	L 34–37	26,000
September 6	12:30 pm	No. 3 Tennessee*		Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA	ABC	L 24–30	62,619	[1]
September 13	12:30 pm	at No. 11 Texas*		Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX	ABC, FSW	W 66–3	77,203
September 27	3:30 pm	Arizona	No. 24	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA	FSN	W 40–27	50,188
October 4	3:30 pm	Houston*	No. 22	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA	FSW2	W 66–10	38,004
October 11	3:30 pm	at Oregon	No. 18	Autzen Stadium Eugene, OR	FX	W 39–31	42,314
October 18	3:30 pm	Oregon State	No. 17	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA	FSN	W 34–10	38,165
October 25	3:30 pm	California	No. 13	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA		W 35–17	52,858
November 1	3:30 pm	at Stanford	No. 12	Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA	FSN	W 27–7	54,332
November 15	12:30 pm	No. 13 Washington	No. 9	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA	ABC	W 52–28	85,697
November 22	12:30 pm	at USC	No. 7	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Victory Bell)	ABC, FSW2	W 31–24	91,350
January 1	10:30 am	vs. No. 20 Texas A&M*	No. 5	Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX (Cotton Bowl Classic)	CBS	W 29–23	59,215
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

Rankings

See also: 1997 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP	—	—	—	RV	24	24	22	18	17	13	12	10	9	7	6	5	5	5
Coaches	RV	RV	—	RV	RV	RV	25	19	18	16	13	11	10	9	7	6	6	5
Harris	Not released																	Not released
BCS	Not released																	Not released

Game summaries

At Washington State

See also: 1997 Washington State Cougars football team

UCLA at Washington State

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Bruins	7	7	13	7	34
• Cougars	3	27	7	0	37

• Date: August 30, 1997
• Location: Martin Stadium
  Pullman, WA
• Game attendance: 26,000
• TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson (play-by-play), Bob Griese (analyst), and Lynn Swann (sideline)

       

Scoring summary

1		UCLA	Skip Hicks 2-yard run (Chris Sailer kick)	UCLA 7–0
		WSU	Rian Lindell ?-yard field goal	UCLA 7–3
2	14:43	UCLA	Skip Hicks 9-yard run (Chris Sailer kick)	UCLA 14–3
	11:07	WSU	Michael Black 17-yard run (Rian Lindell kick)	UCLA 14–10
	8:13	WSU	Nian Talor 57-yard pass from Ryan Leaf (Rian Lindell kick failed)	WSU 16–14
	4:35	WSU	Ryan Leaf 1-yard run (Rian Lindell kick)	WSU 23–14
	0:54	WSU	Nian Talor 29-yard pass from Ryan Leaf (Rian Lindell kick failed)	WSU 30–14
3	12:50	UCLA	Skip Hicks 2-yard run (kick failed)	WSU 30–21
	11:51	WSU	Chris Jackson 78-yard pass from Ryan Leaf (Rian Lindell kick)	WSU 37–21
	2:22	UCLA	Danny Farmer 6-yard pass from Cade McNown (pass failed)	WSU 37–27
4	14:13	UCLA	Skip Hicks 4-yard run (Chris Sailer kick)	WSU 37–34

^[2]

No. 3 Tennessee

See also: 1997 Tennessee Volunteers football team

Tennessee at UCLA

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• No. 3 Volunteers	9	15	3	3	30
Bruins	0	3	3	18	24

• Date: September 6
• Location: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California
• Game start: 12:35 pm PDT
• Elapsed time: 3:41
• Game attendance: 62,619

*Source: Box score

^[3]

At Texas

See also: 1997 Texas Longhorns football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bruins	10	28	21	7	66
#11 Longhorns	0	0	3	0	3

^[4]

Arizona

See also: 1997 Arizona Wildcats football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	7	0	20	0	27
#24 Bruins	31	6	0	3	40

Houston

See also: 1997 Houston Cougars football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cougars	7	0	0	3	10
#22 Bruins	42	7	7	10	66

At Oregon

See also: 1997 Oregon Ducks football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
#18 Bruins	27	3	6	3	39
Ducks	21	7	3	0	31

Oregon State

See also: 1997 Oregon State Beavers football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Beavers	10	0	0	0	10
#17 Bruins	14	14	3	3	34

California

See also: 1997 California Golden Bears football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden Bears	14	3	0	0	17
#13 Bruins	0	14	14	7	35

At Stanford

See also: 1997 Stanford Cardinal football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
#12 Bruins	14	7	3	3	27
Cardinal	0	0	7	0	7

Washington

See also: 1997 Washington Huskies football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
#13 Huskies	17	3	8	0	28
#9 Bruins	3	14	21	14	52

At USC

See also: 1997 USC Trojans football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
#7 Bruins	10	7	7	7	31
Trojans	14	7	3	0	24

The Bruins retained the Victory Bell for the seventh straight year.

Vs. Texas A&M Aggies (Cotton Bowl Classic)

UCLA vs. Texas A&M
(Cotton Bowl Classic)

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• No. 5 Bruins	0	7	14	8	29
No. 20 Aggies	7	9	7	0	23

• Date: January 1
• Location: Cotton Bowl
  Dallas, TX
• Game attendance: 59,215
• Game weather: 53 °F (12 °C), Cloudy
• Referee: Tom Robinson
• TV announcers (CBS): Gus Johnson and Mike Mayock

Main article: 1998 Cotton Bowl Classic

See also: 1997 Texas A&M Aggies football team

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP UCLA Texas A&M 1 4:35 Texas A&M Interception returned 64 yards for touchdown by Brandon Jennings, Kyle Bryant kick good 0 7 2 10:18 Texas A&M Cade McNown tackled in end zone for a safety by Zerick Rollins 0 9 2 5:54 3 90 Texas A&M Dante Hall 74-yard touchdown run, Kyle Bryant kick good 0 16 2 0:02 5 47 UCLA Jim McElroy 22-yard touchdown reception from Cade McNown, Chris Sailer kick good 7 16 3 12:34 3 45 UCLA Skip Hicks 41-yard touchdown reception from Cade McNown, Chris Sailer kick good 14 16 3 8:37 8 65 Texas A&M Chris Cole 43-yard touchdown run, Kyle Bryant kick good 14 23 3 2:44 8 65 UCLA Cade McNown 20-yard touchdown run, Chris Sailer kick good 21 23 4 7:05 8 71 UCLA Ryan Neufeld 5-yard touchdown run, 2-point run good 29 23 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 29 23

Roster

1997 UCLA Bruins football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 87 Danny Farmer So OT 71 Kris Farris Jr RB 20 Skip Hicks Sr QB 18 Cade McNown Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class CB 35 Larry Atkins Jr LB 50 Brendon Ayanbadejo Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 2 Chris Sailer	Head coach Bob Toledo Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Awards and honors

Skip Hicks, Chad Overhauser, and Chris Sailer were selected to the 1997 College Football All-America Team.

1998 NFL draft

The following players were selected in the 1998 NFL draft.

Player	Round	Pick	Position	NFL team
Shaun Williams	1	24	Free Safety	New York Giants
Skip Hicks	3	69	Running back	Washington Redskins
Chad Overhauser	7	217	Offensive guard	Chicago Bears