1997 Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team

The 1997 Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team was an American football team that represented Wake Forest University during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their fifth season under head coach Jim Caldwell, the Demon Deacons compiled a 5–6 record and finished in a tie for sixth place in the Atlantic Coast Conference.^[1]

1997 Wake Forest Demon Deacons football
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Record	5–6 (3–5 ACC)
Head coach	Jim Caldwell (5th season)
Offensive coordinator	Hank Small (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	James Bell (1st season)
Base defense	4–3
Captains	Thabiti Davis Robert Fatzinger Chris Gaskell D'Angelo Solomon
Home stadium	Groves 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	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 6	3:30 pm	No. 21 Northwestern*	Groves Stadium Winston-Salem, NC	ABC	W 27–20	24,320	[2]
September 13	3:30 pm	at East Carolina*	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium Greenville, NC	FSN	L 24–25	38,031	[3]
September 20	6:30 pm	Georgia Tech	Groves Stadium Winston-Salem, NC		L 26–28	22,832	[4]
September 25	8:00 pm	NC State	Groves Stadium Winston-Salem, NC (rivalry)	ESPN	W 19–18	24,259	[5]
October 4	12:00 pm	at Virginia	Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA	JPS	L 13–21	40,000	[6]
October 11	12:00 pm	at No. 5 North Carolina	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (rivalry)	JPS	L 12–30	57,000	[7]
October 18	1:00 pm	Maryland	Groves Stadium Winston-Salem, NC		W 35–17	17,893	[8]
October 25	12:00 pm	at Duke	Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC (rivalry)	JPS	W 38–24	28,531	[9]
November 1	12:00 pm	Clemson	Groves Stadium Winston-Salem, NC	JPS	L 16–33	23,411	[10]
November 8	12:00 pm	at Rutgers*	Rutgers Stadium Piscataway, NJ	ESPN Plus	W 28–14	11,717	[11]
November 15	12:00 pm	at No. 2 Florida State	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL	JPS	L 7–58	70,026	[12]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Team leaders

Category	Team Leader	Att/Cth	Yds
Passing	Brian Kuklick	190/312	2,180
Rushing	Herman Lewis	114	491
Receiving	Desmond Clark	72	950