1997 Princeton Tigers football team

1997 Princeton Tigers football
Conference	Ivy League
Record	6–4 [a] (4–3 Ivy)
Head coach	Steve Tosches (11th season)
Captains	Keith Elias Reggie Harris
Home stadium	Giants Stadium, Lions Stadium
Seasons ←  1996 1998  →

1997 Ivy League football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Harvard $		7	–	0					9	–	1
Dartmouth		6	–	1					8	–	2
Brown		4	–	3					7	–	3
Cornell		4	–	3					6	–	4
Princeton		3	–	4					6	–	4
Columbia		3	–	4					4	–	6
Yale		1	–	6					2	–	8
Penn *		0	–	7					1	–	9
$ – Conference champion * Standings reflect Penn's forfeit of five conference wins due to use of an ineligible player

The 1997 Princeton Tigers football team was an American football team that represented Princeton University during the 1997 NCAA Division I-AA football season. Princeton tied for fifth in the Ivy League.

In their 11th year under head coach Steve Tosches, the Tigers compiled a 6–4 record and outscored opponents 148 to 132. Mike Clifford and Tim Greene were the team captains. ^[1]

Princeton's 4–3 conference record tied for fifth in the Ivy League standings. The Tigers were outscored 90 to 87 by Ivy opponents. ^[2]

For the first time in more than a century, Princeton played none of its home games on campus, as Palmer Stadium had been demolished and construction of its replacement, Princeton University Stadium, was still in progress. The Tigers' two "home" games were played at Lions Stadium, the home field of The College of New Jersey, and at Giants Stadium, the New Jersey home of two NFL teams.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 20	at Cornell	Schoellkopf Field Ithaca, NY	L 10–14	7,127	[3]
September 27	vs. Fordham *	Lions Field Ewing, NJ	W 9–7	4,050	[4]
October 4	at Holy Cross *	Fitton Field Worcester, MA	W 21–7	8,542	[5]
October 11	at Brown	Brown Stadium Providence, RI	W 30–13	4,022	[6]
October 18	at Colgate *	Andy Kerr Stadium Hamilton, NY	W 31–28		[1]
October 25	at Harvard	Harvard Stadium Boston, MA (rivalry)	L 12–14	8,480	[7]
November 1	at Columbia	Wien Stadium New York, NY	L 0–17	1,015	[8]
November 8	at Penn	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA (rivalry)	W 17–20 [a]	15,847	[9] [10]
November 15	vs. Yale	Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ (rivalry)	W 9–0	7,731	[11]
November 22	at Dartmouth	Memorial Field Hanover, NH	L 9–12 OT	3,022	[12]
*Non-conference game

Note

^  a: In January 1998, Penn agreed to forfeit its Ivy League wins from 1997 after star defensive tackle Mitch Marrow was declared ineligible as a part-time student. ^[10] Princeton's ^[1] and Penn's ^[13] record books regard their 1997 meeting, a 20–17 Penn victory on the field, as a Princeton win, as do the 1997 win–loss records and season standings in the Ivy League record book. ^[2]

References

1. "Results". Princeton Football Record Book. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University. p. 31. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
2. "Year-by-Year History". Ivy League Football Media Guide (PDF). Princeton, N.J.: Ivy League. 2017. p. 37. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
3. McShea, Keith (September 22, 1997). "Big Red Holds Those Tigers". The Ithaca Journal . Ithaca, N.Y. p. 3B – via Newspapers.com.
4. Denman, Elliott (September 28, 1997). "Princeton Happy with Narrow Win". The Home News & Tribune . New Brunswick, N.J. pp. C7, C14 – via Newspapers.com.
5. Vellante, John (October 5, 1997). "Holy Cross Kicking Itself After a Loss". Boston Sunday Globe . Boston, Mass. p. D22 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "Princeton Gives Brown Its First Loss". The Philadelphia Inquirer . Philadelphia, Pa. Associated Press. October 12, 1997. p. C10 – via Newspapers.com.
7. Concannon, Joe (October 26, 1997). "Sloppy Harvard Win Sets Up Neat Match". Boston Sunday Globe . Boston, Mass. p. F14 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "Turnovers Help Lions Dominate Princeton". The Philadelphia Inquirer . Philadelphia, Pa. Associated Press. November 2, 1997. p. C17 – via Newspapers.com.
9. Juliano, Joe (November 26, 1997). "Penn Ices Princeton with Late Field Goal". The Philadelphia Inquirer . Philadelphia, Pa. p. C10 – via Newspapers.com.
10. Moran, Edward (January 3, 1998). "Penn Forfeits 5 Wins in Marrow Case". Philadelphia Daily News . Philadelphia, Pa. p. 39 – via Newspapers.com.
11. Finnegan, Tara (November 16, 1997). "Tigers' Nakielny Provides Relief". The Home News & Tribune . New Brunswick, N.J. p. C6 – via Newspapers.com.
12. Haley, Tom (November 23, 1997). "Bittersweet Win for Dartmouth". The Sunday Rutland Herald . Rutland, Vt. p. B1 – via Newspapers.com. Attendance figure in "College Football Scoreboard". The Sunday Record . Hackensack, N.J. November 23, 1997. p. S-5.
13. "Football Fact Book: All-Time Year-by-Year". Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania. p. 159. Retrieved June 20, 2020.