1997 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

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

1997 Big Ten Conference football standings

	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 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

See also: 1997 NCAA Division I-A football 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