1997 Wisconsin Badgers football team

The 1997 Wisconsin Badgers football team represented the University of Wisconsin–Madison as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by eighth-year head coach Barry Alvarez, the Badgers compiled an overall record of 8–5 with a mark of 5–3 in conference play, placing fifth in the Big Ten. Wisconsin was invited to the Outback Bowl, where the Badgers lost to Georgia. The team played home games at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.

1997 Wisconsin Badgers football
Outback Bowl, L 6–33 vs. Georgia
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	8–5 (5–3 Big Ten)
Head coach	Barry Alvarez (8th season)
Offensive coordinator	Brad Childress (6th season)
Offensive scheme	Smashmouth
Defensive coordinator	Kevin Cosgrove (3rd season)
Base defense	4–3
MVP	Tom Burke
Captains	Kevin Huntley David Lysek Carl McCullough
Home stadium	Camp Randall Stadium
Seasons ← 1996 1998 →

1997 Big Ten Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 1 Michigan $		8	–	0					12	–	0
No. 12 Ohio State		6	–	2					10	–	3
No. 16 Penn State		6	–	2					9	–	3
No. 15 Purdue		6	–	2					9	–	3
Wisconsin		5	–	3					8	–	5
Iowa		4	–	4					7	–	5
Michigan State		4	–	4					7	–	5
Northwestern		3	–	5					5	–	7
Minnesota		1	–	7					3	–	9
Indiana		1	–	7					2	–	9
Illinois		0	–	8					0	–	11
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

After suffering a humiliating loss at the hands of Donovan McNabb and the Syracuse Orangemen in their season opener, the Wisconsin Badgers sprang back to win eight of their next nine games. After defeating Boise State, San Jose State, and San Diego State, the Badgers won consecutive games with field goals as time expired against Indiana and Northwestern. In the course of this streak, the Badgers snapped a long losing streak to Iowa with a 13–10 win over the Hawkeyes, the first Wisconsin win over a Hayden Fry-coached team. After defeating Iowa, Alvarez's team dropped the final three games of the season, losing to eventual national champion Michigan, Penn State, and Georgia in the Outback Bowl.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
August 24	1:00 p.m.	vs. No. 17 Syracuse*	No. 24	Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ (Kickoff Classic)	ABC	L 0–34	51,185
September 6	2:00 p.m.	Boise State*		Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI		W 28–24	73,209
September 13	5:30 p.m.	at San Jose State*		Spartan Stadium San Jose, CA		W 56–10	23,042
September 20	1:00 p.m.	San Diego State*		Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI		W 36–10	76,864
September 27	11:20 a.m.	Indiana		Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ESPN Plus	W 27–26	78,211
October 4	6:00 p.m.	at Northwestern		Ryan Field Evanston, IL	ESPN	W 26–25	47,129
October 11	11:20 a.m.	Illinois		Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ESPN Plus	W 31–7	79,327
October 18	1:00 p.m.	at Purdue	No. 24	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN		L 20–45	54,252
October 25	11:30 a.m.	at Minnesota		Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome Minneapolis, MN (rivalry)	ESPN2	W 22–21	57,563
November 8	11:30 a.m.	No. 12 Iowa		Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI (rivalry)	ESPN	W 13–10	79,864
November 15	2:30 p.m.	No. 1 Michigan	No. 23	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	ABC	L 16–26	79,806
November 22	2:30 p.m.	at No. 6 Penn State	No. 24	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ABC	L 10–35	96,934
January 1, 1998	10:00 a.m.	vs. No. 11 Georgia*		Houlihan's Stadium Tampa, FL (Outback Bowl)	ESPN	L 6–33	56,186	[1]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Rankings

See also: 1997 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

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

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

Game summaries

Syracuse

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Syracuse	10	14	7	3	34
Wisconsin	0	0	0	0	0

• Date: August 24
• Location: Giants Stadium
• Game attendance: 51,185

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Boise State

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Boise St	10	7	0	7	24
• Wisconsin	7	7	7	7	28

• Date: September 6
• Location: Camp Randall Stadium

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San Jose State

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Wisconsin	14	28	14	0	56
San Jose St	10	0	0	0	10

• Date: September 13
• Location: Spartan Stadium
• Game attendance: 23,042

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San Diego State

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
San Diego St	0	0	3	7	10
• Wisconsin	17	5	7	7	36

• Date: September 20
• Location: Camp Randall Stadium

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Indiana

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Indiana	7	10	6	3	26
• Wisconsin	7	10	0	10	27

• Date: September 27
• Location: Camp Randall Stadium

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Northwestern

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Wisconsin	13	3	7	3	26
Northwestern	6	8	11	0	25

• Date: October 4
• Location: Ryan Field

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Illinois

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Illinois	0	7	0	0	7
• Wisconsin	14	7	10	0	31

• Date: October 11
• Location: Camp Randall Stadium

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Purdue

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Wisconsin	0	10	7	3	20
• Purdue	21	7	7	10	45

• Date: October 18
• Location: Ross–Ade Stadium

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Minnesota

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Wisconsin	7	6	0	9	22
Minnesota	8	0	13	0	21

• Date: October 25
• Location: Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
• Game attendance: 57,563
• Game weather: Indoors (dome)

Scoring summary

Q1	12:00	WIS	Simmons 53 yard pass from Samuel (Davenport kick)	WIS 7–0
Q1	3:50	MINN	Bailey 30 yard field goal	WIS 7–3
Q1	1:55	MINN	Safety	WIS 7–5
Q1	:10	MINN	Bailey 42 yard field goal	MINN 8–7
Q2	11:52	WIS	Hayes 53 yard pass from Samuel (two-point conversion failed)	WIS 13–8
Q3	7:57	MINN	Nelson 11 yard pass from Sauter (two-point conversion failed)	MINN 14–13
Q3	3:50	MINN	Evans 4 yard run (Bailey kick)	MINN 21–13
Q4	13:18	WIS	Davenport 38 yard field goal	MINN 21–16
Q4	7:10	WIS	Dayne 1 yard run (two-point conversion failed)	WIS 22–21

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Iowa

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Iowa	0	0	7	3	10
• Wisconsin	0	13	0	0	13

• Date: November 8
• Location: Camp Randall Stadium
• Game attendance: 79,864

See also: 1997 Iowa Hawkeyes football team and Iowa–Wisconsin football rivalry

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Michigan

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Michigan	7	9	0	10	26
Wisconsin	0	3	7	6	16

• Date: November 15
• Location: Camp Randall Stadium

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Penn State

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Wisconsin	3	0	0	7	10
• Penn St	7	14	14	0	35

• Date: November 22
• Location: Beaver Stadium

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Outback Bowl

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Wisconsin	0	0	0	6	6
• Georgia	12	7	7	7	33

• Date: January 1
• Location: Tampa Stadium
• Game attendance: 56,186

Main article: 1998 Outback Bowl

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Personnel

Roster

1997 Wisconsin Badgers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 7 Willie Austin So FB 32 Branden Cantrell Sr WR 88 Chris Chambers Fr FB 48 Rob Christen  Fr G 54 Dave Costa  Fr OT 66 Pat Daley  So RB 33 Ron Dayne So RB 4 Eddie Faulkner  Fr G 60 Bill Ferrario  Fr OT 79 Aaron Gibson Jr WR 23 Rasheed Golden Fr TE 89 Eric Grams  Jr G 73 Joe Gribowski  Fr WR 84 Donald Hayes Sr WR 6 Kevin Huntley (C) Sr OL 76 Josh Jakubowski Fr OL 52 Coleman Johnson  Jr QB 12 Scott Kavanagh So FB 37 Cecil Martin  Jr QB 19 Ben McCormick  Sr RB 13 Carl McCullough (C)  Sr OT 75 Chris McIntosh  So WR 1 Ahmad Merritt  So C 70 Casey Rabach  Fr TE 87 Dague Retzlaff  Fr C 53 Rob Roell  So QB 10 Mike Samuel  Jr TE 85 John Sigmund Fr WR 82 Tony Simmons  Sr TE, LS 86 Mike Solwold  Fr TE 49 Ryan Sondrup  Jr OT 74 Mark Tauscher  So WR 29 Delta Triplett  Sr RB 22 Charles Williams  So RB 21 Tony Williams  So	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 29 Bob Adamov  Jr S 17 Demetrius Brown  So CB 3 Onjai Bryant So DE 74 Tom Burke Jr CB 38 Lamar Campbell Sr DE 25 Marcus Carpenter  So DE 99 Dave Cruickshank  Jr LB 51 Mark Davis  Jr S 8 Jason Doering  Fr LB 50 Donny Eicher  So DE 96 John Favret Fr LB 16 Chris Ghidorzi So LB 5 Edgerton Hartwell  Fr NT 59 Joe Innis  Sr NT 58 Chris Janek So S 24 Donte King Fr LB 19 Roger Knight Fr DT 78 Ross Kolodziej  Fr LB 45 Dan Lisowski Fr DE 91 Rob Lurtsema  Sr LB 57 David Lysek (C)  Sr NT 71 Eric Mahlik  Fr LB 32 Ryan Marks  Fr DE 9 Sam Mueller  Fr S 26 Bobby Myers  So S 15 Tim Rosga  So CB 28 Jason Suttle  Sr S 34 Leonard Taylor  Jr LB 44 Donnel Thompson So S 33 Scott Wagner  Sr S 18 Shadrick Washington  Fr LB 2 Marcus White  So DT 92 Brandon Williams  Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 28 Matt Davenport Jr K 20 Vitaly Pisetsky So LS 46 Mike Schneck  So P 23 Eric Skrzypchak  So TE, LS 86 Mike Solwold  Fr P 14 Kevin Stemke Fr	Head coach Barry Alvarez Coordinators/assistant coaches Brad Childress – Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Kevin Cosgrove – Defensive Coordinator/Inside Linebackers Tim Davis – Offensive Tackles/Tight Ends Phil Elmassian – Defensive Backs Jay Hayes – Outside Linebackers/Strong Safeties/Special Teams Jim Hueber – Guards and Centers Henry Mason – Wide Receivers John Palermo – Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Line Brian White – Running Backs Bernie Wyatt – Director of Football Operations Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: 1997-06-17

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Regular starters

Position Player Quarterback Mike Samuel Running back Ron Dayne Fullback Cecil Martin Wide receiver Donald Hayes Wide receiver Tony Simmons Tight end Eric Grams Left tackle Chris McIntosh Left guard Bill Ferrario Center Casey Rabach Right guard Dave Costa Right tackle Aaron Gibson

Position Player Defensive end John Favret Defensive tackle Ross Kolodziej Nose guard Chris Janek Defensive end Tom Burke Outside linebacker Bob Adamov Inside linebacker Donnel Thompson Outside linebacker David Lysek Cornerback Jason Suttle Free safety Bobby Myers Strong safety Leonard Taylor Cornerback Lamar Campbell

Team players selected in the 1998 NFL draft

Player	Position	Round	Overall Selection	NFL Team
Tony Simmons	Wide Receiver	2	52	New England Patriots
Donald Hayes	Wide Receiver	4	106	Carolina Panthers

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