1997 Georgia Southern Eagles football team

The 1997 Georgia Southern Eagles football team represented the Georgia Southern Eagles of Georgia Southern University during the 1997 NCAA Division I-AA football season.[1] The Eagles played their home games at Paulson Stadium in Statesboro, Georgia. The team was coached by Paul Johnson, in his first year as head coach for the Eagles.

1997 Georgia Southern Eagles football
SoCon champion
Conference	Southern Conference
Ranking
Sports Network	No. 8
1997 record	10–3 (7–1 SoCon)
Head coach	Paul Johnson (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Mike Sewak (1st season)
Home stadium	Paulson Stadium (Capacity: 18,000)

1997 Southern Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 8 Georgia Southern $^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 15 Appalachian State		6	–	2					7	–	4
East Tennessee State		5	–	3					7	–	4
Furman		5	–	3					7	–	4
The Citadel		4	–	4					6	–	5
Chattanooga		4	–	4					7	–	4
Western Carolina		3	–	5					3	–	8
Wofford		2	–	6					3	–	7
VMI		0	–	8					0	–	11
$ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from The Sports Network I-AA Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance
August 30		Valdosta State*		Paulson Stadium Statesboro, GA	W 45–26	–
September 6		No. 3 William and Mary (VA)*	No. 23	Paulson Stadium Statesboro, GA	L 28–29	10,329
September 20		at Wofford (SC)	No. 20	Gibbs Stadium Spartanburg, SC	W 22–7	–
September 27		No. 22 Chattanooga	No. 20	Paulson Stadium Statesboro, GA	W 37–10	–
October 4		at VMI	No. 17	Alumni Memorial Field Lexington, VA	W 49–0	–
October 11		Western Carolina	No. 11	Paulson Stadium Statesboro, GA	W 30–7	–
October 18		at Appalachian State	No. 9	Kidd Brewer Stadium Boone, NC	L 12–24	–
October 25		The Citadel	No. 16	Paulson Stadium Statesboro, GA	W 49–7	14,731
November 1		at No. 12 East Tennessee State	No. 14	Memorial Center Johnson City, TN	W 38–30	–
November 8		Furman (SC)	No. 11	Paulson Stadium Statesboro, GA	W 30–13	–
November 15	7:00 pm	at USF*	No. 8	Houlihan's Stadium Tampa, FL	W 24–23	30,470
November 29		No. 10 Florida A&M*	No. 8	Paulson Stadium Statesboro, GA (Division I-AA 1st Round Playoff Game)	W 52–37	–
December 6		at No. 3 Delaware*	No. 8	Delaware Stadium Newark, DE (Division I-AA Quarterfinal Playoff Game)	L 7–16	–
*Non-conference game Rankings from The Sports Network Poll released prior to game All times are in Eastern time

[2]

References

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-12-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
2. "1997 Football Schedule". CFBDataWarehouse.com. Retrieved January 17, 2017.