1997 Rice Owls football team

The 1997 Rice Owls football team was an American football team that represented Rice University in the Western Athletic Conference during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their third year under head coach Ken Hatfield, the team compiled a 7–4 record.^[1][2]

1997 Rice Owls football
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
Division	Mountain Division
Record	7–4 (5–3 WAC)
Head coach	Ken Hatfield (4th season)
Offensive coordinator	David Lee (4th season)
Defensive coordinator	Hardee McCrary (1st season)
Home stadium	Rice Stadium
Seasons ← 1996 1998 →

1997 Western Athletic Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Mountain Division
New Mexico x		6	–	2					9	–	4
Rice		5	–	3					7	–	4
SMU		5	–	3					6	–	5
Utah		5	–	3					6	–	5
BYU		4	–	4					6	–	5
UTEP		3	–	5					4	–	7
Tulsa		2	–	6					2	–	9
TCU		1	–	7					1	–	10
Pacific Division
No. 17 Colorado State x$		7	–	1					11	–	2
Air Force		6	–	2					10	–	3
Fresno State		5	–	3					6	–	6
Wyoming		4	–	4					7	–	6
San Diego State		4	–	4					5	–	7
San Jose State		4	–	4					4	–	7
UNLV		2	–	6					3	–	8
Hawaii		1	–	7					3	–	9
Championship: Colorado State 41, New Mexico 13
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 6	Air Force	Rice Stadium Houston, TX	L 12–41
September 13	at Tulane*	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, LA	W 30–24	19,602	[3]
September 20	at Northwestern*	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	W 40–34	32,762
September 27	Texas*	Rice Stadium Houston, TX (rivalry)	L 31–38	53,811
October 4	at Tulsa	Skelly Stadium Tulsa, OK	W 42–24	19,994
October 11	No. 21 BYU	Rice Stadium Houston, TX	W 27–14	23,814
October 18	at New Mexico	University Stadium Albuquerque, NM	W 35–23
November 1	at SMU	Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX (rivalry)	L 6–24	20,024
November 8	TCU	Rice Stadium Houston, TX	W 38–19
November 15	at Utah	Robert Rice Stadium Salt Lake City, UT	L 14–31	27,049
November 22	UTEP	Rice Stadium Houston, TX	W 31–13	18,014
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game