F I N A L 1 9 9 7
C N N / U S A T O D A Y P O L L
C N N / U S A T O D A Y P O L L
The top 25 teams in the CNN/USA Today college football poll, which is voted on by 62 head coaches at Division I-A institutions who are members of the American Football Coaches Association. First-place votes in parentheses, records through Jan. 2, total points based on 25 points for a first place vote through one point for a 25th place vote, and previous ranking:
| 1. | Nebraska (32*) | 13-0 | 1,520 | 2 | |
| 2. | Michigan (30*) | 12-0 | 1,516 | 1 | |
| 3. | Florida State | 11-1 | 1,414 | 4 | |
| 4. | North Carolina | 11-1 | 1,292 | 5 | |
| 5. | UCLA | 10-2 | 1,239 | 6 | |
| 6. | Florida | 10-2 | 1,209 | 8 | |
| 7. | Kansas State | 11-1 | 1,192 | 9 | |
| 8. | Tennessee | 11-2 | 1,122 | 3 | |
| 9. | Washington State | 10-2 | 1,076 | 7 | |
| 10. | Georgia | 10-2 | 1,007 | 11 | |
| 11. | Auburn | 10-3 | 854 | 13 | |
| 12. | Ohio State | 10-3 | 826 | 10 | |
| 13. | LSU | 9-3 | 786 | 15 | |
| 14. | Arizona State | 8-3 | 667 | 18 | |
| 15. | Purdue | 9-3 | 666 | 16 | |
| 16. | Colorado State | 11-2 | 646 | 17 | |
| 17. | Penn State | 9-3 | 585 | 12 | |
| 18. | Washington | 8-4 | 512 | 23 | |
| 19. | Southern Mississippi | 9-3 | 462 | 22 | |
| 20. | Syracuse | 9-4 | 380 | 14 | |
| 21. | Texas A&M | 9-4 | 359 | 19 | |
| 22. | Mississippi | 8-4 | 188 | NR | |
| 23. | Missouri | 7-5 | 114 | 20 | |
| 24. | Oklahoma State | 8-4 | 103 | 24 | |
| 25. | Air Force | 10-3 | 74 | 21 | |
Also receiving votes: Clemson 58, Georgia Tech 55, Iowa 32, Louisiana Tech 31, Oregon 25, Cincinnati 24, Arizona 23, Mississippi State 20, Michigan State 16, New Mexico 13, Wisconsin 13, Tulane 10, Virginia 9, West Virginia 7, Marshall 4, Notre Dame 1. |
* There were eight split votes for first place.