1997 North Carolina Tar Heels football team

1997 North Carolina Tar Heels football
Gator Bowl champion
Gator Bowl, W 42–3 vs. Virginia Tech
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 4
AP	No. 6
Record	11–1 (7–1 ACC)
Head coach	Mack Brown (10th season; regular season) Carl Torbush (interim; bowl game)
Offensive coordinator	Greg Davis (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Multiple
Defensive coordinator	Carl Torbush (10th season)
Base defense	4–3
Captains	Greg Ellis Vonnie Holliday Jonathan Linton Jeff Saturday Brian Simmons
Home stadium	Kenan Memorial Stadium
Seasons ←  1996 1998  →

1997 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 3 Florida State $		8	–	0					11	–	1
No. 6 North Carolina		7	–	1					11	–	1
Virginia		5	–	3					7	–	4
No. 25 Georgia Tech		5	–	3					7	–	5
Clemson		4	–	4					7	–	5
NC State		3	–	5					6	–	5
Wake Forest		3	–	5					5	–	6
Maryland		1	–	7					2	–	9
Duke		0	–	8					2	–	9
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1997 North Carolina Tar Heels football team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Tar Heels played their home games at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and competed in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The team was coached by Mack Brown and finished the season 11–1 overall, 7–1 in the conference.

At the end of the season, Brown left for the University of Texas at Austin and did not coach in the Gator Bowl victory over Virginia Tech. Carl Torbush, who was the defensive coordinator during the regular season, became the head coach when Brown left. North Carolina credits the regular season to Brown and the Gator Bowl victory to Torbush.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 6	12:00 p.m.	Indiana *	No. 7	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC	ESPN2	W 23–6	57,800	[1]
September 13	6:00 p.m.	No. 17 Stanford *	No. 7	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC	ESPN2	W 28–17	57,800	[2]
September 20	12:00 p.m.	at Maryland	No. 6	Byrd Stadium College Park, MD	JPS	W 40–14	30,084	[3]
September 27	12:00 p.m.	Virginia	No. 5	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (South's Oldest Rivalry)	ABC	W 48–20	57,800	[4]
October 4	8:05 p.m.	at TCU *	No. 5	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX		W 31–10	29,415	[5]
October 11	12:00 p.m.	Wake Forest	No. 5	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (rivalry)	JPS	W 30–12	57,000	[6]
October 18	6:00 p.m.	at NC State	No. 4	Carter–Finley Stadium Raleigh, NC (rivalry)	ESPN2	W 20–7	51,500	[7]
October 30	8:00 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	No. 5	Bobby Dodd Stadium Atlanta, GA	ESPN	W 16–13	45,126	[8]
November 8	7:30 p.m.	No. 3 Florida State	No. 5	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC ( College GameDay )	ESPN	L 3–20	62,000	[9]
November 15	3:30 p.m.	at Clemson	No. 8	Memorial Stadium Clemson, SC	ABC	W 17–10	71,514	[10]
November 22	12:00 p.m.	Duke	No. 8	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (Victory Bell)	JPS	W 50–14	53,500	[11]
January 1, 1998	12:30 p.m.	vs. Virginia Tech *	No. 7	Alltel Stadium Jacksonville, FL (Gator Bowl)	NBC	W 42–3	54,116	[12]
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Roster

1997 North Carolina Tar Heels football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 4 Ocatvus Barnes Sr QB 15 Chris Keldorf Sr WR 18 Na Brown Jr WR 23 LC Stevens Jr OT 77 John Surigao Jr RB 27 Jonathan Linton Sr OT 51 Mike Baxter Sr G 63 Mike Hobgood Sr C 64 Jeff Saturday Sr TE 86 Ebenezer Ekuban Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class S 2 Omar Brown Sr S 3 Greg Williams Sr LB 9 Keith Newman Jr CB 29 Robert Williams Jr CB 31 Dré Bly  So LB 41 Brian Simmons Sr LB 53 Kivuusama Mays Sr DT 84 Nate Hobgood-Chittick Sr DT 85 Chris Mintz  So DE 87 Greg Ellis Sr DT 90 Vonnie Holliday Sr DE 91 Mike Pringley Jr DE 96 Russell Davis Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 23 Brian Schmitz So K 37 Josh McGee So	Head coach Mack Brown Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Rankings

See also: 1997 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend:██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP	7 (4)	7 (4)	7 (4)	7 (2)	6 (1)	5 (2)	5 (2)	5 (2)	4 (2)	4 (2)	5 (2)	5 (2)	8	8	8	7	7	6
Coaches Poll	8 (1)	8 (1)	8 (1)	8 (1)	7 (1)	5 (1)	5 (1)	5 (1)	4 (1)	4 (1)	5	5	9	8	6	5	5	4

Game summaries

Vs. Virginia Tech (Gator Bowl)

North Carolina vs. Virginia Tech
(Gator Bowl)

1 2 3 4 Total •No. 7 Tar Heels 16 6 6 14 42 Hokies 0 0 3 0 3 Date: January 1, 1998 Location: Alltel Stadium Jacksonville, FL Game attendance: 54,116 TV announcers (NBC): Charlie Jones (play–by–play), Bob Trumpy (analyst) and John Dockery (sideline)

See also: 1997 Virginia Tech Hokies football team and 1998 Gator Bowl

^[13]

Players in the 1998 NFL Draft

See also: 1998 NFL draft

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club	Ref
Greg Ellis	DE	1	8	Dallas Cowboys	[14]
Brian Simmons	LB	1	17	Cincinnati Bengals	[14]
Vonnie Holliday	DE	1	19	Green Bay Packers	[14]
Omar Brown	S	4	103	Atlanta Falcons	[14]
Kivuusama Mays	LB	4	110	Minnesota Vikings	[14]
Robert Williams	CB	5	128	Kansas City Chiefs	[14]
Jonathan Linton	FB	5	131	Buffalo Bills	[14]

References

1. "Indiana can't find end zone in loss". The Indianapolis Star. September 7, 1997. Retrieved July 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
2. "Cardinal streak snapped". Santa Cruz Sentinel. September 14, 1997. Retrieved July 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
3. "Tar Heels thump Terrapins". The Charlotte Observer. September 21, 1997. Retrieved July 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
4. "Reversal of fortune; UNC rallies for huge win over Cavs". The Chapel Hill News. September 28, 1997. Retrieved July 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
5. "TCU's rally falls short vs. Tar Heels". The Atlanta Journal. October 5, 1997. Retrieved July 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
6. "North Carolina has its flaws, but does enough to top Wake Forest". Press of Atlantic City. October 12, 1997. Retrieved July 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
7. "Heels find another win". The Herald-Sun. October 19, 1997. Retrieved July 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
8. "Tar Heels nip Jackets". Winston-Salem Journal. October 31, 1997. Retrieved July 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
9. "FSU downs Heels". The Index-Journal. November 9, 1997. Retrieved July 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
10. "North Carolina deals Clemson near-fatal blow". Florence Morning News. November 16, 1997. Retrieved July 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
11. "Heels make big bowl plea". The News and Observer. November 23, 1997. Retrieved July 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
12. "North Carolina makes statement in rout". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. January 2, 1998. Retrieved July 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
13. "In Gator, UNC Gives Hokies a 'Good Whuppin',' 42-3". The Washington Post . January 2, 1998. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
14. "1998 NFL Draft". pro-football-reference.com .