1997 Wisconsin Badgers football team

American college football season February 2026 August 2023 1997 Wisconsin Badgers football Wisconsin Badgers logo.svg 125 Big Ten Conference Big Ten 8–5 5–3 Barry Alvarez 8th Brad ChildressAugust 2025 6th SmashmouthAugust 2025 Kevin CosgroveAugust 2025 3rd 4–3August 2025 Tom Burke Kevin Huntley David Lysek Carl McCulloughAugust 2025 Camp Randall Stadium Outback Bowl L 6–33 vs. Georgia The 1997 Wisconsin Badgers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Wisconsin–Madison as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their eighth year under head coach Barry Alvarez, the Badgers compiled an 8–5 record (5–3 in conference games), finished in fifth place in the Big Ten, and were outscored by a total of 306 to 291. After a 34–0 loss to Donovan McNabb and Syracuse in the Kickoff Classic, the Badgers won six straight games against unranked teams, before losing to unranked Purdue, and then rebounding for the program's first victory over a Hayden Fry-coached Iowa team. The Badgers concluded their season with three consecutive defeats, losing to No. 1 Michigan, No. 6 Penn State, and in the Outback Bowl against No. 12 Georgia.1997 Wisconsin Badgers Schedule and Results Sports Reference LLC SR/College Football August 25, 2025 https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/wisconsin/1997-schedule.html The Badgers were unranked in the final AP and Coaches polls. The team's statistical leaders for all games, including the Outback Bowl, were quarterback Mike Samuel (1,896 passing yards, 55.5% completion percentage), running back Ron Dayne (1,457 rushing yards, 5.5 yards per carry, 90 points scored), wide receiver Donald Hayes (45 receptions for 618 yards), and linebacker Donnel Thompson (82 solo tackles, 141 total tackles).Wisconsin Overall Team Statistics [1997] UWBadgers.com August 25, 2025 https://uwbadgers.com/documents/2015/8/21/4224.pdf Defensive end Tom Burke led the team with 16 tackles for loss (including eight sacks) and won the team's most valuable player award.Cook, four Badgers honored Wisconsin State Journal December 3, 1997 2C https://www.newspapers.com/article/wisconsin-state-journal-cook-four-badge/179731305/ Newspapers.com Dayne received first-team All-America honors from Football News. Kicker Matt Davenport, who converted 14 of 17 field goals and 31 of 33 extra points, was the only Badger to receive first-team honors on the 1997 All-Big Ten Conference football team; Dayne was placed on the second team by both the coaches and media.College Football Gettysburg Times December 2, 1997 B2 https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2202&dat=19971202&id=OCIyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=U-YFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5658,146276 The team played its home games at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. Schedule 1997 AP Central August 24 1:00 p.m. l y y 24 Syracuse 17 Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ Kickoff Classic ABC 0–34 51,185 September 6 2:00 p.m. w y Boise State Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI 28–24 73,209 September 13 5:30 p.m. w y y San Jose State Spartan Stadium San Jose, CA 56–10 23,042 September 20 1:00 p.m. w y San Diego State Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI 36–10 76,864 September 27 11:20 a.m. w Indiana Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI ESPN Plus 27–26 78,211 October 4 6:00 p.m. w y Northwestern Ryan Field Evanston, IL ESPN 26–25 47,129 October 11 11:20 a.m. w y Illinois Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI ESPN Plus 31–7 79,327 October 18 1:00 p.m. l y 24 Purdue Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN 20–45 54,252 October 25 11:30 a.m. w y Minnesota Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome Minneapolis, MN rivalry ESPN2 22–21 57,563 November 8 11:30 a.m. w y Iowa 12 Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI rivalry ESPN 13–10 79,864 November 15 2:30 p.m. l 23 Michigan 1 Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI ABC 16–26 79,806 November 22 2:30 p.m. l y 24 Penn State 6 Beaver Stadium University Park, PA ABC 10–35 96,934 January 1, 1998 10:00 a.m. l y y Georgia 11 Houlihan's Stadium Tampa, FL Outback Bowl ESPN 6–33 56,186 https://www.newspapers.com/article/tampa-bay-times-dawgs-make-quick-work-of/152118980/ St. Petersburg Times Dawgs make quick work of Wisconsin January 2, 1998 July 27, 2024 Newspapers.com Rankings 1997 NCAA Division I-A football rankings AP 0 17 24 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR 24 NR NR NR 23 24 NR NR NR NR Coaches 0 17 24 NR NR NR NR NR NR 24 NR NR NR 24 24 NR NR NR NR Game summaries Syracuse Syracuse 10 14 7 3 Wisconsin 0 0 0 0 August 24 Giants Stadium 51,185 USA Today. Retrieved 2015-Oct-04. Boise State Boise St 10 7 0 7 Wisconsin 7 7 7 7 September 6 Camp Randall Stadium USA Today. Retrieved 2015-Oct-04. San Jose State Wisconsin 14 28 14 0 San Jose St 10 0 0 0 September 13 Spartan Stadium 23,042 USA Today. Retrieved 2015-Oct-04. San Diego State San Diego St 0 0 3 7 Wisconsin 17 5 7 7 September 20 Camp Randall Stadium USA Today. Retrieved 2015-Oct-04. Indiana Indiana 7 10 6 3 Wisconsin 7 10 0 10 September 27 Camp Randall Stadium USA Today. Retrieved 2015-Oct-04. Northwestern Wisconsin 13 3 7 3 Northwestern 6 8 11 0 October 4 Ryan Field USA Today. Retrieved 2015-Oct-04. Illinois Illinois 0 7 0 0 Wisconsin 14 7 10 0 October 11 Camp Randall Stadium USA Today. Retrieved 2015-Oct-04. Purdue Wisconsin 0 10 7 3 Purdue 21 7 7 10 October 18 Ross–Ade Stadium USA Today. Retrieved 2015-Oct-04. Minnesota Wisconsin 7 6 0 9 Minnesota 8 0 13 0 October 25 Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome 57,563 Indoors (dome) yes 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 yes USA Today. Retrieved 2015-Oct-04. Iowa Iowa 0 0 7 3 Wisconsin 0 13 0 0 November 8 Camp Randall Stadium 79,864 1997 Iowa Hawkeyes football team Iowa–Wisconsin football rivalry USA Today. Retrieved 2015-Oct-04. Michigan Michigan 7 9 0 10 Wisconsin 0 3 7 6 November 15 Camp Randall Stadium USA Today. Retrieved 2015-Oct-04. Penn State Wisconsin 3 0 0 7 Penn St 7 14 14 0 November 22 Beaver Stadium USA Today. Retrieved 2015-Oct-04. Outback Bowl Wisconsin 0 0 0 6 Georgia 12 7 7 7 January 1 Tampa Stadium 56,186 1998 Outback Bowl USA Today. Retrieved 2015-Oct-04. Personnel Roster 1997 Wisconsin Badgers f 7 So Willie Austin WR 32 Sr Branden Cantrell FB 88 Fr Chris Chambers WR y 48 Fr Rob Christen FB y 54 Fr Dave Costa Dave Costa (offensive lineman) G y y 66 So Pat Daley T y 33 So Ron Dayne RB y 4 Fr Eddie Faulkner RB y y 60 Fr Bill Ferrario G y y 79 Jr Aaron Gibson T y 23 Fr Rasheed Golden WR 89 Jr Eric Grams TE y 73 Fr Joe Gribowski G y 84 Sr Donald Hayes WR y 6 Sr Kevin Huntley WR C 76 Fr Josh Jakubowski OL 52 Jr Coleman Johnson OL y 12 So Scott Kavanagh QB 37 Jr Cecil Martin FB y y 19 Sr Ben McCormick QB y 13 Sr Carl McCullough RB y C 75 So Chris McIntosh T y y 1 So Ahmad Merritt WR y y 70 Fr Casey Rabach C y y 87 Fr Dague Retzlaff TE y 53 So Rob Roell C y 10 Jr Mike Samuel QB y 85 Fr John Sigmund TE 82 Sr Tony Simmons Tony Simmons (wide receiver) WR y y 86 Fr Mike Solwold TE LS y y 49 Jr Ryan Sondrup TE y 74 So Mark Tauscher T y 29 Sr Delta Triplett WR y 22 So Charles Williams RB y 21 So Tony Williams RB y 29 Jr Bob Adamov LB y 17 So Demetrius Brown S y 3 So Onjai Bryant CB 74 Jr Tom Burke Tom Burke (American football) DE y 38 Sr Lamar Campbell Lamar Campbell (American football) CB y 25 So Marcus Carpenter DE y 99 Jr Dave Cruickshank DE y 51 Jr Mark Davis LB y 8 Fr Jason Doering S y y 50 So Donny Eicher LB y 96 Fr John Favret DE 16 So Chris Ghidorzi LB 5 Fr Edgerton Hartwell LB y y 59 Sr Joe Innis NT y 58 So Chris Janek NT 24 Fr Donte King S 19 Fr Roger Knight Roger Knight (American football) LB y 78 Fr Ross Kolodziej DT y y 45 Fr Dan Lisowski LB 91 Sr Rob Lurtsema DE y 57 Sr David Lysek LB y C 71 Fr Eric Mahlik NT y 32 Fr Ryan Marks LB y 9 Fr Sam Mueller DE y 26 So Bobby Myers Bobby Myers (American football) S y y 15 So Tim Rosga S y 28 Sr Jason Suttle CB y 34 Jr Leonard Taylor S y 44 So Donnel Thompson LB y 33 Sr Scott Wagner S y 18 Fr Shadrick Washington S y 2 So Marcus White LB y 92 Jr Brandon Williams DT y 28 Jr Matt Davenport K 20 So Vitaly Pisetsky K 46 So Mike Schneck LS y y 23 So Eric Skrzypchak P y 86 Fr Mike Solwold TE LS y y 14 Fr Kevin Stemke P https://web.archive.org/web/19970617232506/http://www.wisc.edu:80/ath/sport/fb/rosters/alphabet.html *Barry Alvarez 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 1997-06-17 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6kscAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mC4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6655%2C159897 Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Wisconsin Badgers (roster) January 1, 1998 4C Regular starters PositionPlayerQuarterbackMike SamuelRunning backRon DayneFullbackCecil MartinWide receiverDonald HayesWide receiverTony SimmonsTight endEric GramsLeft tackleChris McIntoshLeft guardBill FerrarioCenter Casey RabachRight guardDave CostaRight tackleAaron Gibson PositionPlayerDefensive endJohn FavretDefensive tackleRoss KolodziejNose guardChris JanekDefensive endTom BurkeOutside linebackerBob AdamovInside linebackerDonnel ThompsonOutside linebackerDavid LysekCornerbackJason SuttleFree safetyBobby MyersStrong safetyLeonard TaylorCornerbackLamar Campbell August 2025 Wisconsin players selected in the 1998 NFL draft Wisconsin Badgers Player Position Round Overall Selection NFL team Tony Simmons Wide Receiver 2 52 New England Patriots Donald Hayes Wide Receiver 4 106 Carolina Panthershttps://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/1997.htm 1984 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com Pro-Football-Reference.com 2016-12-07 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20090527000715/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/1984.htm 2009-05-27 References Wisconsin Category:Wisconsin Badgers football seasons Wisconsin Badgers football