1997 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

American college football season

1997 Penn State Nittany Lions football

Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy
Florida Citrus Bowl, L 6–21 vs. Florida
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 17
AP	No. 16
Record	9–3 (6–2 Big Ten)
Head coach	Joe Paterno (32nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Fran Ganter (14th season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Jerry Sandusky (21st season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Beaver Stadium
Seasons← 1996 1998 →

1997 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t e
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

The 1997 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University in the 1997 Big Ten Conference football season. The team was coached by Joe Paterno and played its home games in Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 6	3:30 p.m.	Pittsburgh*	No. 1	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	ABC	W 34–17	97,115
September 13	1:00 p.m.	Temple*	No. 1	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)		W 52–10	96,735
September 20	12:00 p.m.	at Louisville*	No. 1	Cardinal Stadium Louisville, KY	CBS	W 57–21	39,826
October 4	12:30 p.m.	at Illinois	No. 2	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ESPN2	W 41–6	51,523
October 11	3:30 p.m.	No. 7 Ohio State	No. 2	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	ABC	W 31–27	97,282
October 18	12:00 p.m.	Minnesota	No. 1	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (Governor's Victory Bell)	ESPN Plus	W 16–15	96,953
November 1	12:30 p.m.	at Northwestern	No. 2	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	ESPN	W 30–27	47,129
November 8	3:30 p.m.	No. 4 Michigan	No. 2	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	ABC	L 8–34	97,498
November 15	12:00 p.m.	at No. 19 Purdue	No. 6	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	ESPN	W 42–17	52,156
November 22	3:30 p.m.	No. 24 Wisconsin	No. 6	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ABC	W 35–10	96,934
November 29	1:00 p.m.	at Michigan State	No. 4	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI (rivalry)	ABC	L 14–49	73,623
January 1, 1998	1:00 p.m.	vs. No. 6 Florida*	No. 11	Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, FL (Florida Citrus Bowl)	ABC	L 6–21	72,940
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

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Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP	1 (21)	1 (22)	1 (23)	1 (22)	1 (25)	2 (28)	2 (25)	2 (26)	1 (51)	2 (26)	2 (25)	2 (16)	6	6	4	12	11	16
Coaches	2 (9)		2 (13)	2 (12)	2 (14)	2 (14)	2 (13)	2 (11)	1 (51)	2 (29)	2 (20)	3 (8)	6	6	4	12	12	17

Roster

1997 Penn State Nittany Lions football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
RB	`39`	Curtis Enis	Jr
WR	`2`	Chafie Fields	So
WR	`83`	Joe Jurevicius	Sr
QB	`9`	Mike McQueary	Sr
G	`64`	Phil Ostrowski	Sr
QB	`16`	Kevin Thompson	So
G	`69`	Floyd Wedderburn	Jr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
LB	`11`	LaVar Arrington	Fr
DE	`86`	Courtney Brown	So
CB	`17`	Brad Johnson	Jr
SS	`4`	Derek Fox	So
LB	`44`	Jim Nelson	Sr
CB	`27`	David Macklin	So
DE	`5`	Brad Scioli	Jr
LB	`43`	Brandon Short	So

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
P	`41`	Pat Pidgeon	So

Head coach

Joe Paterno

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

NFL draft

Three Nittany Lions were drafted in the 1998 NFL draft.

Round	Pick	Overall	Name	Position	Team
1st	5	5	Curtis Enis	Running back	Chicago Bears
2nd	25	55	Joe Jurevicius	Wide receiver	New York Giants
5th	28	151	Phil Ostrowski	Offensive guard	San Francisco 49ers

References

"Penn State Yearly Results (1995-1999)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on August 5, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
"Somber ending; Senior Nittany Lions melancholy after loss to Florida". The Times Leader. January 2, 1998. Retrieved July 27, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.

v t e Penn State Nittany Lions football
Venues	Old Main lawn (until 1891) Beaver Field (1892–1908) New Beaver Field (1909–1959) Beaver Stadium (1960–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Alabama Maryland Michigan Michigan State Minnesota: Governor's Victory Bell Ohio State Old Ironsides Pittsburgh Syracuse West Virginia
Culture & lore	Nittany Lion "Fight On, State" Penn State Blue Band Uplifting Athletes Joe Paterno statue Something for Joey 1982 Nebraska game Child sex abuse scandal 2016 Ohio State game Paterno White Out 2021 Illinois game
People	Head coaches All-Americans NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1881 1882–1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

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