1997 Kansas State Wildcats football team

The 1997 Kansas State Wildcats football team represented Kansas State University in the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team's head football coach was Bill Snyder. The Wildcats played their home games in KSU Stadium. 1997 saw the Wildcats finish with a record of 11–1, and a 7–1 record in Big 12 Conference play. The season ended with a win over Donovan McNabb's Syracuse Orangemen in the 1997 Fiesta Bowl.

1997 Kansas State Wildcats football
Fiesta Bowl champion
Fiesta Bowl, W 35–18 vs. Syracuse
Conference	Big 12 Conference
Division	North
Ranking
Coaches	No. 7
AP	No. 8
Record	11–1 (7–1 Big 12)
Head coach	Bill Snyder (9th season)
Offensive coordinator	Ron Hudson (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Mike Stoops (2nd season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	KSU Stadium
Seasons ← 1996 1998 →

1997 Big 12 Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
North Division
No. 2 Nebraska † xy$		8	–	0					13	–	0
No. 8 Kansas State  %		7	–	1					11	–	1
No. 23 Missouri		5	–	3					7	–	5
Colorado		3	–	5					5	–	6
Kansas		3	–	5					5	–	6
Iowa State		1	–	7					1	–	10
South Division
No. 20 Texas A&M xy		6	–	2					9	–	4
No. 24 Oklahoma State		5	–	3					8	–	4
Texas Tech		5	–	3					6	–	5
Texas		2	–	6					4	–	7
Oklahoma		2	–	6					4	–	8
Baylor		1	–	7					2	–	9
Championship: Nebraska 54, Texas A&M 15
x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant † – Coaches Poll National Champion $ – Bowl Alliance representative as champion % – Bowl Alliance at-large representative Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 6	6:30 p.m.	at Northern Illinois*	No. 21	Huskie Stadium DeKalb, IL		W 47–7	26,873
September 13	6:10 p.m.	Ohio*	No. 20	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS		W 23–20	42,097
September 27	1:10 p.m.	Bowling Green*	No. 18	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS		W 58–0	41,524
October 4	6:00 p.m.	at No. 3 Nebraska	No. 17	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry)	FX	L 26–56	75,856
October 11	11:30 a.m.	Missouri	No. 22	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS	FSN	W 41–11	43,510
October 18	2:30 p.m.	No. 14 Texas A&M	No. 20	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS	ABC	W 36–17	43,601
October 25	1:30 p.m.	at Oklahoma	No. 14	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK		W 26–7	68,433
November 1	11:30 a.m.	at Texas Tech	No. 13	Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX	FSN	W 13–2	38,322
November 8	1:10 p.m.	Kansas	No. 11	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS (rivalry)	PPV	W 48–16	43,832
November 15	2:30 p.m.	Colorado	No. 10	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS (rivalry)	ABC	W 37–20	43,981
November 22	11:30 a.m.	at Iowa State	No. 9	Jack Trice Stadium Ames, IA (rivalry)	FSN	W 28–3	24,042
December 31	6:00 p.m.	vs. No. 14 Syracuse*	No. 10	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ (Fiesta Bowl)	CBS	W 35–18	69,367
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^[1]

Rankings

See also: 1997 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
т = Tied with team above or below

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP	23	22	21т	20	20	18	17	22	20	14	13	11	10	9	11	10	10	8
Coaches	23		23	20	19	17	16	23	20	13	12	10	8	7	9	9	9	7

Roster

1997 Kansas State Wildcats football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 32 David Allen So QB 7 Michael Bishop Jr WR 80 Darnell McDonald Jr TE 86 Justin Swift Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DL 44 Monty Beisel Fr CB 23 Jerametrius Butler Fr DB 1 Lamar Chapman So S 40 Jarrod Cooper Fr DL 49 Darren Howard So LB 8 Jeff Kelly So LB 50 Travis Ochs Jr LB 42 Mark Simoneau So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 10 Martín Gramática Jr	Head coach Bill Snyder Coordinators/assistant coaches Ron Hudson – Offensive Coordinator & quarterbacks Michael Smith – Running backs Greg Peterson – Wide receivers & passing game coordinator Larry Kramer – Tight ends & Special Teams Coordinator Mike Stoops – Defensive Coordinator & defensive backs Mo Latimore – interior Defensive line Jon Faris – Defensive end Brent Venables – Linebackers Mark Mangino – Recruiting Game Coordinator Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Game summaries

Nebraska

See also: 1997 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

Kansas State at Nebraska

1 2 3 4 Total Kansas State 6 0 6 14 26 • Nebraska 10 10 21 15 56 Date: 1997-10-04 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 6:00 p.m. CST Game attendance: 75,856 TV announcers (FX): Drew Goodman, Artie Gigantino

Texas A&M

	1	2	3	4	Total
#14 Texas A&M	0	3	7	7	17
#20 Kansas State	13	3	7	13	36

Syracuse (Fiesta Bowl)

Main article: 1997 Fiesta Bowl (December)

See also: 1997 Syracuse Orangemen football team

1997 Fiesta Bowl

1 2 3 4 Total • #10 Kansas State 0 21 0 14 35 #14 Syracuse 3 12 0 3 18 Date: 1997-12-31 Location: Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona Game attendance: 69,367 Referee: David Witvoet (Big Ten) TV announcers (CBS): Tim Brando and Ed Cunningham