1997 Vanderbilt Commodores football team

American college football season

1997 Vanderbilt Commodores football
Conference	Southeastern conference
Division	Eastern Division
Record	3–8 (0–8 SEC)
Head coach	Woody Widenhofer (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Ed Lambert (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Multiple
Defensive coordinator	Norm Parker (1st season)
Base defense	4–3
Captain	5 Jamie Duncan Corey Chavous Jay Stallworth Damian Allen John Bradley
Home stadium	Vanderbilt Stadium
Seasons ← 1996 1998 →

1997 Southeastern Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
Eastern Division
No. 7 Tennessee x$	7	–	1	11	–	2
No. 10 Georgia	6	–	2	10	–	2
No. 4 Florida	6	–	2	10	–	2
South Carolina	3	–	5	5	–	6
Kentucky	2	–	6	5	–	6
Vanderbilt	0	–	8	3	–	8
Western Division
No. 11 Auburn xy	6	–	2	10	–	3
No. 13 LSU x	6	–	2	9	–	3
No. 22 Ole Miss	4	–	4	8	–	4
Mississippi State	4	–	4	7	–	4
Arkansas	2	–	6	4	–	7
Alabama	2	–	6	4	–	7
Championship: Tennessee 30, Auburn 29
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

The 1997 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represented Vanderbilt University in the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team played their home games at Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	6:00 p.m.	North Texas*	Vanderbilt Stadium Nashville, TN		W 29–12	38,281
September 11	7:00 p.m.	No. 15 Alabama	Vanderbilt Stadium Nashville, TN	ESPN	L 0–20	41,448
September 20	7:00 p.m.	TCU*	Vanderbilt Stadium Nashville, TN		W 40–16	34,824
September 27	6:00 p.m.	at Ole Miss	Vaught–Hemingway Stadium Oxford, MS (rivalry)		L 3–15	36,417
October 4	2:30 p.m.	No. 13 LSU	Vanderbilt Stadium Nashville, TN	PPV	L 6–7	37,045
October 11	3:00 p.m.	at Northern Illinois*	Huskie Stadium DeKalb, IL		W 17–7	17,567
October 18	8:00 p.m.	No. 21 Georgia	Vanderbilt Stadium Nashville, TN (rivalry)	ESPN2	L 13–34	35,124
October 25	6:00 p.m.	at South Carolina	Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, SC		L 3–35	79,014
November 8	11:30 a.m.	at No. 13 Florida	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL	JPS	L 7–20	85,301
November 15	1:00 p.m.	Kentucky	Vanderbilt Stadium Nashville, TN (rivalry)		L 10–21	40,256
November 29	11:00 a.m.	at No. 3 Tennessee	Neyland Stadium Knoxville, TN (rivalry)	CBS	L 10–17	106,683
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

1997 Vanderbilt Commodores football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
QB	`6`	Greg Zolman	Fr
QB	`17`	Damian Allen	Sr
RB	`23`	Tyrone Yarbrough	Jr
RB	`35`	Marcus A. Williams	Sr
G	`51`	Jim Anguiano	Jr
WR	`81`	Todd Yoder	So

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
CB	`1`	Fred Vinson	Jr
CB	`4`	Corey Chavous	Sr
CB	`30`	Damien Charley	Jr
LB	`34`	Carlton Hall	Sr
LB	`49`	Jamie Duncan	Sr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class

Roster
Last update: 1998-12-02

^ "1997 Final Vanderbilt Stats". Vanderbilt University Department of Athletics. Archived from the original on October 10, 2007. Retrieved October 15, 2014.

v t e Vanderbilt Commodores football
Venues	Old Dudley Field (1892–1921) Curry Field (1922) Dudley Field (1922–1980) FirstBank Stadium (1980–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Georgia Georgia Tech Kentucky Ole Miss Sewanee Tennessee
Culture & lore	History Origin of "Commodores" "Dynamite" Marching band Porter Cup Vanderbilt rape case 1906 Carlisle game 1910 Yale game 1922 Michigan game IMG Sports Newtork
People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks All-Americans All-Southerns NFL draftees Statistical leaders William Lofland Dudley
Seasons	1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championships in bold