1997 Missouri Tigers football team

The 1997 Missouri Tigers football team represented the University of Missouri during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. The 1997 Tigers went 7–5 (5–3 in Big 12 play), ending a streak of 13 consecutive losing seasons. However, the Tigers lost to Colorado State, 35–24, in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. They played their home games at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri. They were members of the Big 12 Conference in the North Division. The team was coached by head coach Larry Smith.

1997 Missouri Tigers football
Holiday Bowl, L 24–35 vs. Colorado State
Conference	Big 12 Conference
Division	North Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 23
AP	No. 23
Record	7–5 (5–3 Big 12)
Head coach	Larry Smith (4th season)
Offensive coordinator	Jerry Berndt (4th season)
Defensive coordinator	Moe Ankney (4th season)
Home stadium	Faurot Field (capacity: 62,023)
Seasons ← 1996 1998 →

1997 Big 12 Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
North Division
No. 2 Nebraska † xy$		8	–	0					13	–	0
No. 8 Kansas State  %		7	–	1					11	–	1
No. 23 Missouri		5	–	3					7	–	5
Colorado		3	–	5					5	–	6
Kansas		3	–	5					5	–	6
Iowa State		1	–	7					1	–	10
South Division
No. 20 Texas A&M xy		6	–	2					9	–	4
No. 24 Oklahoma State		5	–	3					8	–	4
Texas Tech		5	–	3					6	–	5
Texas		2	–	6					4	–	7
Oklahoma		2	–	6					4	–	8
Baylor		1	–	7					2	–	9
Championship: Nebraska 54, Texas A&M 15
x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant † – Coaches Poll National Champion $ – Bowl Alliance representative as champion % – Bowl Alliance at-large representative Rankings from AP Poll

The loss to eventual the national champion, top-ranked Nebraska in overtime came after the infamous Flea Kicker play. This was a deflection reception off an unintentionally kicked pass as the receiver that was falling and tried pull the ball to his chest with his foot, resulting in a deflection off the foot that another receiver was able to dive a catch.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 6	6:30 pm	Eastern Michigan*		Faurot Field Columbia, MO		W 44–24	52,514
September 13	11:30 am	at Kansas		Memorial Stadium Lawrence, KS (Border War)	FSN	L 7–15	38,000
September 20	4:00 pm	at Tulsa*		Skelly Stadium Tulsa, OK		W 42–21	40,385
September 27	11:00 am	No. 7 Ohio State*		Faurot Field Columbia, MO	ABC	L 10–31	58,882
October 4	1:00 pm	Iowa State		Faurot Field Columbia, MO (rivalry)		W 45–21	44,386
October 11	11:30 am	at No. 22 Kansas State		KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS	FSN	L 11–41	43,510
October 18	1:00 pm	Texas		Faurot Field Columbia, MO		W 37–29	48,451
October 25	11:30 am	at No. 12 Oklahoma State		Lewis Field Stillwater, OK	FSN	W 51–50 ^2OT	33,300
November 1	1:30 pm	at Colorado		Folsom Field Boulder, CO		W 41–31	43,119
November 8	2:30 pm	No. 1 Nebraska		Faurot Field Columbia, MO (rivalry)	ABC	L 38–45 ^OT	66,846
November 15	1:00 pm	Baylor	No. 25	Faurot Field Columbia, MO		W 42–24	43,825
December 29	7:00 pm	vs. No. 18 Colorado State*	No. 19	Qualcomm Stadium San Diego, CA (Holiday Bowl)	ESPN	L 24–35	50,761
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^[1]

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	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	25	21	19	19	19	23
Coaches	—		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	23	20	20	20	23

Coaching staff

Name	Position	Seasons at Missouri	Alma mater
Larry Smith	Head coach	4	Bowling Green (1961)
Jerry Berndt	Offensive coordinator & quarterbacks	4	Wisconsin–Superior (1960)
Curtis Jones	Running back, tight end & defensive line	8	Missouri (1968)
David Mitchell	Running backs	1	Arkansas State
Andy Hill	Wide receivers	2	Missouri (1985)
Andy Moeller	Offensive line	5	Michigan (1986)
Moe Ankney	Defensive coordinator	4	Bowling Green (1963)
Ricky Hunley	Defensive line & linebackers	4	Arizona (1984)
Jon Hoke	Defensive backs	4	Ball State (1980)

Game summaries

Eastern Michigan

See also: 1997 Eastern Michigan Eagles football team

Kansas

See also: 1997 Kansas Jayhawks football team and Border War (Kansas-Missouri rivalry)

Missouri Tigers at Kansas Jayhawks

Period	1	2	3	4	Total
Missouri	0	7	0	0	7
Kansas	9	0	6	0	15

at Memorial Stadium, Lawrence, Kansas

• Date: September 13, 1997
• Game time: 11:30 a.m. CST
• Game attendance: 38,000

Game information
First quarter KU - Johner 1-yard run (kick blocked) KU - Garcia 32-yard field goal Second quarter MU - Olivo 1-yard run (Knickman kick) Third quarter KU - Vann 29-yard run (kick blocked) Fourth quarter No scoring

Tulsa

See also: 1997 Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team

Ohio State

See also: 1997 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

#7 Ohio State Buckeyes at Missouri Tigers

Period	1	2	3	4	Total
Ohio State	7	7	14	3	31
Missouri	7	3	0	0	10

at Faurot Field, Columbia, Missouri

• Date: September 27, 1997
• Game time: 11:00 a.m. CST
• Game weather: 78°, Partly Cloudy, wind 5-10 S
• Game attendance: 58,882
• Referee: R. Christal
• Box Score

Game information

First quarter OSU - Pepe Pearson 3 yd run (Dan Stultz kick) MIZ - Corby Jones 8 yd run (Scott Knickman kick) Second quarter MIZ - Scott Knickman 27 yd field goal OSU - David Boston 5 yd pass from Joe Germaine (Dan Stultz kick) Third quarter OSU - David Boston 28 yd pass from Joe Germaine (Dan Stultz kick) OSU - Michael Wiley 1 yd run (Dan Stultz kick) Fourth quarter OSU - Dan Stultz 28 yd field goal

Iowa State

See also: 1997 Iowa State Cyclones football team

Kansas State

See also: 1997 Kansas State Wildcats football team

Texas

See also: 1997 Texas Longhorns football team

Oklahoma State

See also: 1997 Oklahoma State Cowboys football team

Colorado

See also: 1997 Colorado Buffaloes football team

Nebraska

See also: 1997 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team, Missouri-Nebraska football rivalry, and Flea Kicker

#1 Nebraska Cornhuskers at Missouri Tigers

Period	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
Nebraska	14	7	7	10	7	45
Missouri	7	17	7	7	0	38

at Faurot Field, Columbia, Missouri

• Date: November 8, 1997
• Game time: 2:30 p.m. CST
• Game attendance: 66,846

Baylor

See also: 1997 Baylor Bears football team

1997 Holiday Bowl

See also: 1997 Colorado State Rams football team

References

1. . Missouri Athletics. Archived from the original on January 16, 2000. Retrieved November 7, 2012.