1997 Charleston Southern Buccaneers football team

The 1997 Charleston Southern Buccaneers football team represented Charleston Southern University as an independent during the 1997 NCAA Division I-AA football season. Led by seventh-year head coach David Dowd, the Buccaneers compiled a record of 1–9. Charleston Southern played home games at Buccaneer Field in Charleston, South Carolina.

1997 Charleston Southern Buccaneers football
Conference	Independent
Record	1–9
Head coach	David Dowd (7th season)
Home stadium	Buccaneer Field

1997 NCAA Division I-AA independents football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 18 Cal Poly			–						10	–	1
No. 5 Western Kentucky ^			–						10	–	2
No. 17 Hofstra ^			–						9	–	2
No. 25 Liberty			–						9	–	2
Samford			–						7	–	4
Morehead State			–						5	–	4
South Florida			–						5	–	6
Southern Utah			–						5	–	6
Saint Mary's			–						4	–	6
Davidson			–						3	–	8
Buffalo			–						2	–	9
La Salle			–						1	–	8
Charleston Southern			–						1	–	9
Austin Peay			–						0	–	10
^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from The Sports Network poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
August 28		at East Tennessee State*	Memorial Center Johnson City, TN	L 7–30
September 6		at South Carolina State*	Oliver C. Dawson Stadium Orangeburg, SC	L 12–13
September 13		Presbyterian*	Buccaneer Field Charleston, SC	L 7–16
September 20		Tusculum*	Buccaneer Field Charleston, SC	W 12–3
September 27		Catawba*	Buccaneer Field Charleston, SC	L 13–38
October 11	7:00 pm	at Newberry*	Setzler Field Newberry, SC	L 14–48
October 25		Liberty*	Buccaneer Field Charleston, SC	L 14–48	2,794
November 1	7:00 pm	at South Florida*	Houlihan's Stadium Tampa, FL	L 6–24	25,361
November 8		at Morehead State*	Jayne Stadium Morehead, KY	L 27–55
November 15		at Wofford*	Gibbs Stadium Spartanburg, SC	L 21–51
*Non-conference game All times are in Eastern time