1997 NCAA Division I-A football season

The 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season was play of college football by the National Collegiate Athletic Association teams at the Division I-A level. It began in the summer of 1997 and culminated with the bowl games in early January 1998.

Conference standings

AP Poll progress
WEEKNo. 1No. 2No. 3EventPRE-1Penn State+FloridaFlorida State 2Penn State+FloridaTennessee 3Penn State+FloridaWashington+ 4Penn State+Washington+Florida  5-7FloridaPenn State+Nebraska  8Penn State+NebraskaFlorida State  9-11NebraskaPenn State+Florida State  12-13Michigan+Florida StateNebraska   14-16Michigan+NebraskaTennessee
+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.

Bowl games
BOWLLocationRose BowlNo. 1 Michigan  21No. 8 Washington State 16 PasadenaOrange BowlNo. 2 Nebraska42No. 3 Tennessee17 MiamiSugar BowlNo. 4 Florida State31No. 9 Ohio State 14New OrleansNo. 5 UCLA29No. 20 Texas A&M 23 DallasNo. 6 Florida 21No. 11 Penn State  6OrlandoGator BowlNo. 7 North Carolina 42Virginia Tech 3JacksonvilleFiesta BowlNo. 10 Kansas State 35No. 14 Syracuse 18Tempe, ArizonaOutback BowlNo. 12 Georgia33Wisconsin 6TampaNo. 13 Auburn 21Clemson 17 AtlantaNo. 15 LSU 27Notre Dame  9ShreveportSun BowlNo. 16 Arizona State 17Iowa  7El PasoAlamo BowlNo. 17 Purdue 33No. 24 Oklahoma State 20San AntonioHoliday BowlNo. 18 Colorado State 35No. 20 Missouri 24San DiegoAloha BowlNo. 21 Washington 51Michigan St 23HonoluluNo. 22 Southern Mississippi 41Pittsburgh  7MemphisNo. 25 Georgia Tech 35West Virginia 30MiamiInsight.com BowlArizona 20New Mexico 14Tucson, ArizonaLas Vegas BowlOregon 41Air Force 13Las VegasMississippi 34Marshall 31DetroitHumanitarian BowlCincinnati 35Utah State 19Boise

Final AP Poll
 Michigan
 Nebraska
 Florida State
 Florida
 UCLA
 North Carolina
 Tennessee
 Kansas St.
 Washington St.
 Georgia
 Auburn
 Ohio St.
 LSU
 Arizona St.
 Purdue
 Penn St.
 Colorado St.
 Washington
 So. Mississippi
 Texas A&M
 Syracuse
 Mississippi
 Missouri
 Oklahoma St.
 Georgia Tech

Category:National Collegiate Athletic Association
Category:1997 in sports
Category:1998 in sports
Category:College football