1997 Virginia Tech Hokies football team

1997 Virginia Tech Hokies football
Gator Bowl, L 3–42 vs. North Carolina
Conference	Big East Conference
Record	7–5 (5–2 Big East)
Head coach	Frank Beamer (11th season)
Offensive coordinator	Rickey Bustle (4th season)
Defensive coordinator	Bud Foster (3rd season)
Home stadium	Lane Stadium (Capacity: 50,000)

1997 Big East Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 21 Syracuse $		6	–	1					9	–	4
No. 23 Virginia Tech		5	–	2					7	–	5
Pittsburgh		4	–	3					6	–	6
West Virginia		4	–	3					7	–	5
Miami (FL)		3	–	4					5	–	6
Temple		3	–	4					3	–	8
Boston College		3	–	4					4	–	7
Rutgers		0	–	7					0	–	11
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1997 Virginia Tech Hokies football team represented the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team's head coach was Frank Beamer.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	12:30 p.m.	at Rutgers		Rutgers Stadium Piscataway, NJ	ESPN	W 59–19	26,713
September 13	6:00 p.m.	Syracuse	No. 22	Lane Stadium Blacksburg, VA	ESPN	W 31–3	50,137
September 20	6:00 p.m.	at Temple	No. 18	Veterans Stadium Philadelphia, PA		W 23–13	12,056
September 27	1:00 p.m.	Arkansas State*	No. 14	Lane Stadium Blacksburg, VA		W 50–0	42,178
October 4	1:00 p.m.	Miami (OH)*	No. 14	Lane Stadium Blacksburg, VA		L 17–24	42,878
October 11	12:00 p.m.	Boston College	No. 23	Lane Stadium Blacksburg, VA (rivalry)	ESPN+	W 17–7	47,681
October 25	3:30 p.m.	at No. 21 West Virginia	No. 19	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV (Black Diamond Trophy)	CBS	L 17–30	63,649
November 1	1:00 p.m.	UAB*	No. 23	Lane Stadium Blacksburg, VA		W 37–0	37,411
November 8	6:00 p.m.	Miami (FL)	No. 20	Lane Stadium Blacksburg, VA (rivalry)	ESPN2	W 27–25	53,117
November 22	3:30 p.m.	at Pittsburgh	No. 19	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA		L 23–30	30,144
November 29	5:30 p.m.	at Virginia*		Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA (Commonwealth Cup)	ESPN	L 20–34	44,200
January 1, 1998	12:30 p.m.	vs. No. 7 North Carolina*		Alltel Stadium Jacksonville, FL (Gator Bowl)	NBC	L 3–42	54,116
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Rankings

See also: 1997 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP	—	—	—	22	18	14	14	23	22	19	23	20	19	19	—	—	—	—
Coaches Poll	25		22	19	14	12	12	21	19	17	22	18	17	15	21	—	—	—

Roster

1997 Virginia Tech Hokies football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class G 64 Gennaro DiNapoli Sr OT 76 Dave Kadela Fr G 69 Matt Lehr Fr RB 28 Ken Oxendine Sr QB 14 Nick Sorensen Fr RB 38 Shyrone Stith So G 75 Todd Washington Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DT 66 Chad Beasley Fr DB 16 Cory Bird Fr FS 1 Keion Carpenter Jr CB 3 Ike Charlton So DE 96 John Engelberger So LB 43 Michael Hawkes So CB 9 Anthony Midget So DE 56 Corey Moore So CB 20 Pierson Prioleau Jr DT 71 David Pugh Fr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 17 Shayne Graham So	Head coach Frank Beamer Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt