Division East Defensive coordinator Kevin Kelly | 1997 record 10–3 (7–1 MAC) Offensive coordinator Tim Nunez | |
Conference | ||
The 1997 Marshall Thundering Herd football team represented the Marshall University in the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. It was the program's first year in the Mid-American Conference (MAC).
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Regular season
In the 1997 season, Marshall University's first in Division I-A (now known as FBS), Randy Moss and future NFL quarterback Chad Pennington were the centerpiece of an explosive offense that led the Thundering Herd to the Mid-American Conference title. Moss caught 25 touchdown passes that season, at the time a Division I-A record, and was a first-team All-American. For the season, Moss had 96 receptions for 1820 yards, and 26 touchdowns. Moss won the Fred Biletnikoff Award as the nation's leading wide receiver, and was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy (finishing fourth in the balloting, behind Ryan Leaf, Peyton Manning, and Charles Woodson, who won the award). Moss left Marshall with 168 receptions for 3,467 yards and a school record 53 touchdowns.
The Herd became only the second team to win a conference championship in its first FBS season, after Nevada in 1992 (Big West Conference). The feat would not be repeated again until 2014, when Georgia Southern won the Sun Belt Conference title.
Schedule
The Thundering Herd finished the regular season with a record of 10 wins and 2 losses.