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1997 Mississippi State

7–⁠4 (4–⁠4 Southeastern Conference), coached by Jackie Sherrill.

Schedule and results

Mississippi State in 1997, game by game: won vs. Memphis 13–10; won vs. Kentucky 35–27; lost vs. No. 10 LSU 9–24; won vs. South Carolina 37–17; lost at No. 18 Georgia 0–47; won vs. UL Monroe 24–10; won vs. UCF 35–28; won at No. 11 Auburn 20–0; won at Alabama 32–20; lost at Arkansas 7–17; lost vs. Ole Miss 14–15+20−47Won 13–10 vs. Memphis+3MemphisWon 35–27 vs. Kentucky+8KentuckyLost 9–24 vs. No. 10 LSU-15No. 10 LSUWon 37–17 vs. South Carolina+20South CarolinaLost 0–47 at No. 18 Georgia-47No. 18 GeorgiaWon 24–10 vs. UL Monroe+14UL MonroeWon 35–28 vs. UCF+7UCFWon 20–0 at No. 11 Auburn+20No. 11 AuburnWon 32–20 at Alabama+12AlabamaLost 7–17 at Arkansas-10ArkansasLost 14–15 vs. Ole Miss-1Ole Miss
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Aug 30vsMemphisW 13–⁠1064%
Sep 6vsKentuckyW 35–⁠2759%
Sep 13vs10LSUL 9–⁠2442%
Sep 27vsSouth CarolinaW 37–⁠1747%
Oct 4at18GeorgiaL 0–⁠4734%
Oct 11vsUL MonroeW 24–⁠1074%
Oct 25vsUCFW 35–⁠2862%
Nov 1at11AuburnW 20–⁠022%
Nov 15atAlabamaW 32–⁠2041%
Nov 22atArkansasL 7–⁠1768%
Nov 29vsOle MissL 14–⁠1561%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Ole Miss 15–⁠14; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 6th in the Southeastern Conference.

In program history: The tied 38th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 124 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 12: 19
  2. Wk 13: 17
  3. Wk 14: 15
  4. Wk 15: 22

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1997.

Record
7–⁠4
Conference
4–⁠4 tied for 6th in Southeastern Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 15
Points
226–⁠215
Coach
Jackie Sherrill
Elo
1550 +79 this season
SP+ rating
9.0 No. 39 of 112; offense No. 73, defense No. 13
SRS
7.0 No. 36 of 112 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
Lynn Amedee
Defensive coordinator
Joe Lee Dunn
Offense
Multiple
Defense
3–⁠3–⁠5

Drafted in 1998

The 1998 draft
Rd 2Eric Brown DBDenver Broncos
Rd 3Robert Hicks OTBuffalo Bills
Rd 4Greg Favors LBKansas City Chiefs

All-SEC

2 first team, 4 second team

First team

Second team

  • Eric AllenCAP-2
  • Eric BrownSAP-2
  • Brian HazelwoodKAP-2; Coaches-2
  • Jeff WalkerPAP-2; Coaches-2

From Wikipedia’s 1997 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1997 Southeastern Conference standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Tennessee7–⁠111–⁠27
Florida6–⁠210–⁠24
Georgia6–⁠210–⁠210
Auburn6–⁠210–⁠311
LSU6–⁠29–⁠313
Ole Miss4–⁠48–⁠422
Mississippi State4–⁠47–⁠4
South Carolina3–⁠55–⁠6
Kentucky2–⁠65–⁠6
Alabama2–⁠64–⁠7
Arkansas2–⁠64–⁠7
Vanderbilt0–⁠83–⁠8

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.