1997 NCAA Division I - A football season The 1997 NCAA Division I - A football season , play of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division I - A level , began in late summer 1997 and culminated with the major bowl game s in early January 1998 . The national championship was split for the third time in the 1990s . The Michigan Wolverines finished the season atop the AP Poll after completing a 12 – 0 campaign with a Big Ten Conference championship and a victory in the Rose Bowl over Washington State . The Nebraska Cornhuskers garnered the top ranking in the Coaches ' Poll with a 13 – 0 record , a Big 12 Conference championship , and a win over Tennessee in the Orange Bowl . Michigan ' s Charles Woodson , who played primarily at cornerback , but also saw time on offense as a wide receiver and on special teams as a punt returner , won the Heisman Trophy , becoming the first primarily defensive player to win the award . The 1997 season was the third and final season in which the major bowl games were organized under the Bowl Alliance system . The Bowl Championship Series was instituted the following year . In Tom Osborne ' s last season as head coach , Nebraska took over the # 1 ranking in the nation after defeating Texas Tech midway through the season . Three weeks later , despite winning at in an overtime game , Nebraska slipped to a # 2 ranking in the polls , as voters weren ' t impressed by the way the Cornhuskers won the game ( a controversial kicked - ball that was caught for the game - tying TD as time expired in regulation ) ; the University of Michigan moved ahead of Nebraska after its 34 - 8 victory over # 3 ranked Penn State University . The consensus # 1 team going into the bowl season was undefeated Michigan , led by coach of the year Lloyd Carr and Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson . Michigan went into the 1998 Rose Bowl against # 8 Washington State ranked # 1 in both the AP and the USA Today / ESPN Coaches Poll . Michigan defeated Washington State 21 – 16 . Undefeated # 2 Nebraska squared off in the 1998 Orange Bowl versus the # 3 ranked Tennessee Volunteers football team . Unusually for the low - key Osborne and his straight - ahead team , the Cornhuskers made a point of smacking down Tennessee as they defeated the Volunteers 42 - 17 , and after the game campaigned openly for Nebraska to be named the consensus national champion ( Grant Wistrom stated that if " they wanted to give it to Michigan because they haven ' t won one in 50 years , we don ' t want it anyway . " ) . After the bowl games , the AP poll awarded the national championship to Michigan , and the USA Today / ESPN Coaches Poll awarded the national championship to Nebraska , giving Tom Osborne his third national title in four seasons to cap his career . This also marked the last time that a Big 10 ( or Pac - 10 ) team would be bound to play in the Rose Bowl instead of heading to a # 1 - # 2 title game , due to the 1998 BCS realignment . The national title picture could have been even murkier as Florida State went into their final regular season game ranked # 1 . However , Fred Taylor of Florida would run for 162 yards and four touchdowns on the nation ' s top - ranked run defense , one of those touchdowns being the winning score with less than two minutes to play . This game is commonly referred to as " The Greatest Game Ever Played in the Swamp " . The Humanitarian Bowl began play in Boise , Idaho to help publicise the dwindling Big West Conference and Boise State . The Broncos with their wacky blue turf had just made the jump to Division I - A a year earlier . The Big West champion had formerly gone to the Las Vegas Bowl , but the now only 6 team conference wasn ' t much of a seat filler . The Motor City Bowl began play in Detroit , Michigan hosted by a MAC team . The Copper Bowl gained corporate sponsorship and was now known as the Insight . com Bowl . The MAC also grew to a 12 - team , two - division conference with a championship game after the addition of Northern Illinois from the independent ranks and newcomer to Division I - A Marshall . Marshall ' s addition increased the number of teams in Division I - A to 113 . In a scenario similar to the Big West in 1993 , this up - and - comer from Division I - AA was able to win the division in its first year . To be fair , the Thundering Herd had gone unbeaten and won the I - AA national title the previous season , and had future NFL stars Randy Moss and Chad Pennington . East Carolina joined a conference for the first time since Division I split in 1978 , becoming a member of Conference USA . AP Poll progress . + Penn State and Michigan were Big Ten teams , and Washington was a Pac 10 team . The Big Ten and Pac 10 conferences played in the Rose Bowl rather than the Bowl Alliance championship game . Final AP Poll . Others receiving votes : 26 . Arizona ; 27 . Oregon ; 28 . Air Force ; 29 . Marshall ; 30 . Virginia ; 31 . Clemson ; 32 . Louisiana Tech ; 33 . Mississippi St . ; 34 . Michigan St . ; 35 . Wisconsin ; 36 . New Mexico ; 37 . Cincinnati ; 38 . Notre Dame ; 39 . Iowa ; 40 . Virginia Tech . Others receiving votes : 26 . Clemson ( 58 ) ; 27 . Georgia Tech ( 55 ) ; 28 . Iowa ( 32 ) ; 29 . Louisiana Tech ( 31 ) ; 30 . Oregon ( 25 ) ; 31 . Cincinnati ( 24 ) ; 32 . Arizona ( 23 ) ; 33 . Mississippi St . ( 20 ) ; 34 . Michigan St . ( 16 ) ; 35 . New Mexico and Wisconsin ( 13 ) ; 37 . Tulane ( 10 ) ; 38 . Virginia ( 9 ) ; 39 . West Virginia ( 7 ) ; 40 . Marshall ( 4 ) ; 41 . Notre Dame ( 1 ) . Awards . Heisman Trophy . Charles Woodson of Michigan won the Heisman Trophy , awarded to the " most outstanding player in collegiate football . "