1997 Wisconsin Badgers football team

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
Captain	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

The 1997 Wisconsin Badgers football team represented the University of Wisconsin during the 1997 Big Ten Conference football season. They were led by eight year head coach Barry Alvarez and participated as members of the Big Ten Conference. The Badgers played their home games at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.

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 at the hands of the Iowa Hawkeyes with a 13–10 win, the first Wisconsin win over a Hayden Fry-coached team ever. After defeating Iowa, Barry Alvarez's team fell apart down the stretch, losing to eventual national champion Michigan, Penn State, and Georgia in the Outback Bowl.

While the Badgers suffered a 3-game losing streak to close out the year, the 1997 campaign set the stage for the incredibly successful 1998 season.

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

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	—	—	—	—

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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

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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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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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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

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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

Source:^[15]

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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