# 1997 North Carolina Tar Heels football team

The 1997 North Carolina Tar Heels football team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Tar Heels played their home games at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and competed in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The team was coached by Mack Brown and finished the season 11–1 overall, 7–1 in the conference.
At the end of the season, Brown left for the University of Texas at Austin and did not coach in the Gator Bowl victory over Virginia Tech. Carl Torbush, who was the defensive coordinator during the regular season, became the head coach when Brown left. North Carolina credits the regular season to Brown and the Gator Bowl victory to Torbush.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 6 | 12:00 p.m. | Indiana* | No. 7 | Kenan Memorial StadiumChapel Hill, NC | ESPN2 | W 23–6 | 57,800 |
| September 13 | 6:00 p.m. | No. 17 Stanford* | No. 7 | Kenan Memorial StadiumChapel Hill, NC | ESPN2 | W 28–17 | 57,800 |
| September 20 | 12:00 p.m. | at Maryland | No. 6 | Byrd StadiumCollege Park, MD | JPS | W 40–14 | 30,084 |
| September 27 | 12:00 p.m. | Virginia | No. 5 | Kenan Memorial StadiumChapel Hill, NC (South's Oldest Rivalry) | ABC | W 48–20 | 57,800 |
| October 4 | 8:05 p.m. | at TCU* | No. 5 | Amon G. Carter StadiumFort Worth, TX | | W 31–10 | 29,415 |
| October 11 | 12:00 p.m. | Wake Forest | No. 5 | Kenan Memorial StadiumChapel Hill, NC (rivalry) | JPS | W 30–12 | 57,000 |
| October 18 | 6:00 p.m. | at NC State | No. 4 | Carter–Finley StadiumRaleigh, NC (rivalry) | ESPN2 | W 20–7 | 51,500 |
| October 30 | 8:00 p.m. | at Georgia Tech | No. 5 | Bobby Dodd StadiumAtlanta, GA | ESPN | W 16–13 | 45,126 |
| November 8 | 7:30 p.m. | No. 3 Florida State | No. 5 | Kenan Memorial StadiumChapel Hill, NC (College GameDay) | ESPN | L 3–20 | 62,000 |
| November 15 | 3:30 p.m. | at Clemson | No. 8 | Memorial StadiumClemson, SC | ABC | W 17–10 | 71,514 |
| November 22 | 12:00 p.m. | Duke | No. 8 | Kenan Memorial StadiumChapel Hill, NC (Victory Bell) | JPS | W 50–14 | 53,500 |
| January 1, 1998 | 12:30 p.m. | vs. Virginia Tech* | No. 7 | Alltel StadiumJacksonville, FL (Gator Bowl) | NBC | W 42–3 | 54,116 |
| *Non-conference gameRankings from AP Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Eastern time |||||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking ( ) = First-place votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Final |
| AP | 7 (4) | 7 (4) | 7 (4) | 7 (2) | 6 (1) | 5 (2) | 5 (2) | 5 (2) | 4 (2) | 4 (2) | 5 (2) | 5 (2) | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| Coaches Poll | 8 (1) | 8 (1) | 8 (1) | 8 (1) | 7 (1) | 5 (1) | 5 (1) | 5 (1) | 4 (1) | 4 (1) | 5 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 |

## Game summaries
### Vs. Virginia Tech (Gator Bowl)

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • No. 7 Tar Heels | 16 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 42 |
| Hokies | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |

## Players in the 1998 NFL Draft

| Player | Position | Round | Pick | NFL club |
| Greg Ellis | DE | 1 | 8 | Dallas Cowboys |
| Brian Simmons | LB | 1 | 17 | Cincinnati Bengals |
| Vonnie Holliday | DE | 1 | 19 | Green Bay Packers |
| Omar Brown | S | 4 | 103 | Atlanta Falcons |
| Kivuusama Mays | LB | 4 | 110 | Minnesota Vikings |
| Robert Williams | CB | 5 | 128 | Kansas City Chiefs |
| Jonathan Linton | FB | 5 | 131 | Buffalo Bills |