The 1997 Utah Utes football team represented the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

as a member of the Mountain Division of the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

(WAC) during the

1997 NCAA Division I-A football season The 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season, play of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division I-A level, began in late summer 1997 and culminated with the major bowl games in ...

. Led by eighth-year head coach

Ron McBride Ronald Douglas McBride (born October 14, 1939) is an American former college football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Utah from 1990 to 2002 and at Weber State University from 2005 to 2011, compiling a career co ...

, the Utes compiled an overall record of 6–5 with a mark of 5–3 in conference play, placing in a three-way tie for second in the WAC's Mountain Division. Utah played home games at

Robert Rice Stadium Robert Rice Stadium was an outdoor athletic stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah, located on the campus of the University of Utah. Originally opened in 1927 as Ute Stadium, it was the home of the Utah Utes football team. Renamed for Robert L. Rice i ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

. Immediately after the final home game, the stadium was torn down and rebuilt into the new

Rice–Eccles Stadium Rice–Eccles Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium located on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the home field of the Utah Utes football, Utah Utes of the Big 12 Conference. It was built to serve as t ...

, partly in anticipation of the upcoming

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...

Schedule

Game summaries

BYU

NFL draft

Two players went in the

1998 NFL draft The 1998 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 18–19, 1998, at the Theater at M ...

, including one in the first round (

Kevin Dyson Kevin Tyree Dyson (born June 23, 1975) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Utah Utes. He was selected by the Tennessee Oilers 16 ...

References

{{Utah Utes football navbox

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

Utah Utes football seasons

Utah Utes football The Utah Utes football program is a college football team that competes in the Big 12 Conference of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of NCAA Division I and represents the University of Utah. The Utah college football program began in 1892 and h ...