National and Big 12 Recap – 1997 For the third time in eight seasons, the national polls split the National Championship. For the Associated Press, the National Champion was the 12-0 Michigan Wolverines. Michigan, which had been ranked No. 1 in both polls heading into the bowls, defeated Cinderella Washington State 21-16 in the Rose Bowl to claim its first national title since 1948. In the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll, however, 13-0 Nebraska changed the vote of just enough coaches to claim its third national championship in four years. The …