1997 Northwestern Wildcats football team

1997 Northwestern Wildcats football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	5–7 (3–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Gary Barnett (6th season)
Captains	Eric Collier^[1] Barry Gardner Nate Strikwerda
Home stadium	Ryan Field
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 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University during the 1997 Big Ten Conference football season. They played their home games at Ryan Field and participated as members of the Big Ten Conference. They were coached by Gary Barnett.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 23	11:00 am	vs. Oklahoma*		Soldier Field Chicago, IL (Pigskin Classic)	ABC	W 24–0	36,804
September 6	2:30 pm	at Wake Forest*	No. 21	Groves Stadium Winston-Salem, NC	ABC	L 20–27	24,320
September 13	1:00 pm	Duke*		Ryan Field Evanston, IL		W 24–20	36,225
September 20	11:30 am	Rice*		Ryan Field Evanston, Illinois	SCC	L 34–40	32,762
September 27	11:30 am	at Purdue		Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	ESPN	L 9–21	42,112
October 4	6:00 pm	Wisconsin		Ryan Field Evanston, IL	ESPN	L 25–26	47,129
October 11	11:30 am	at No. 6 Michigan		Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)	ESPN	L 6–23	106,048
October 18	2:30 pm	No. 11 Michigan State		Ryan Field Evanston, IL	ABC	W 19–17	47,129
October 25	2:30 pm	at No. 9 Ohio State		Ohio Stadium Columbus, Ohio	ABC	L 6–49	92,445
November 1	11:30 am	No. 2 Penn State		Ryan Field Evanston, IL	ESPN	L 27–30	47,129
November 8	11:00 am	at Illinois		Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (rivalry)	ESPN Plus	W 34–21	41,195
November 15	11:30 am	No. 22 Iowa		Ryan Field Evanston, IL	ESPN2	W 15–14	40,838
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

1997 Northwestern Wildcats football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
WR	`5`	D'Wayne Bates	Jr
OT	`74`	Paul Janus	Sr
TE	`84`	Jay Tant	So

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
DE	`36`	Casey Dailey	Sr
LB	`55`	Barry Gardner	Jr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class

^ "Year-by-Year Results" (PDF). 2007. p. 149. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 16, 2019. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
^ "NUSPORTS.COM - The Northwestern Official Athletic Site - Football". Archived from the original on November 19, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2012.

v t e Northwestern Wildcats football
Venues	Northwestern Field (1905–1925) Ryan Field (1926–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Illinois Michigan: George Jewett Trophy Notre Dame
Culture and lore	Willie the Wildcat "Go U Northwestern" Marching band 2006 Michigan State game
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1876 1877–1881 1882 1883–1885 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

This page was last edited on 31 December 2023, at 00:54