1997 New Mexico Lobos football team

The 1997 New Mexico Lobos football team represented the University of New Mexico in the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Lobos were led by sixth-year head coach Dennis Franchione, in his final year with the team, and played their home games at University Stadium in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They finished the regular season atop the Mountain Division of the Western Athletic Conference with a 6–2 conference record, and lost to Colorado State in the 1997 WAC Championship Game. New Mexico was invited to the 1997 Insight.com Bowl, their first bowl game since 1961, where they lost to Arizona, 14–20.

1997 New Mexico Lobos football
WAC Mountain Division champion
Insight.com Bowl, L 14–20 vs. Arizona
ConferenceWestern Athletic Conference
DivisionMountain Division
1997 record9–4 (6–2 WAC)
Head coach
Home stadiumUniversity Stadium
(Capacity: 31,218)
1997 Western Athletic Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
Mountain Division
New Mexico x  6 –2     9 –4  
Rice  5 –3     7 –4  
SMU  5 –3     6 –5  
Utah  5 –3     6 –5  
BYU  4 –4     6 –5  
UTEP  3 –5     4 –7  
Tulsa  2 –6     2 –9  
TCU  1 –7     1 –10  
Pacific Division
No. 17 Colorado State x$  7 –1     11 –2  
Air Force  6 –2     10 –3  
Fresno State  5 –3     6 –6  
Wyoming  4 –4     7 –6  
San Diego State  4 –4     5 –7  
San Jose State  4 –4     4 –7  
UNLV  2 –6     3 –8  
Hawaii  1 –7     3 –9  
Championship: Colorado State 41, New Mexico 13
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

The season is also notable for the Lobos because their brief appearance in the Coaches' Poll in Week 15 is the last time that the team has been featured in either the Coaches' Poll or the AP Poll, as of 2018.

Schedule
DateOpponentRankSiteResult
August 30Northern Arizona*
W 33–10
September 6New Mexico State*
W 61–24
September 13at UTEP
W 38–20
September 20at Utah State*
W 25–22
October 4SMU
  • University Stadium
  • Albuquerque, NM
W 22–15
October 11at San Diego State
W 36–21
October 18Rice
  • University Stadium
  • Albuquerque, NM
L 23–35
October 25at Utah
L 10–15
November 1at TCU
W 40–10
November 15BYU
  • University Stadium
  • Albuquerque, NM
W 38–28
November 22Tulsa
  • University Stadium
  • Albuquerque, NM
W 51–13
December 6vs. No. 18 Colorado StateNo. 25
L 13–41
December 27at Arizona*
L 14–20
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from Coaches' Poll released prior to the game

Source:[1]

References
  1. "1997 New Mexico Lobos Schedule & Results". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
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