 Despite having only one loss, the Tar Heels were denied a chance to participate in a Bowl Alliance game and instead accepted a bid to the 1998 Gator Bowl.The Virginia Tech Hokies began the 1997 college football season having gone 10–2 the previous season, ending with a 41–21 loss to Nebraska in the 1996 Orange Bowl.The Hokies began the new season with hopes of repeating the success that saw the team reach consecutive Bowl Alliance games in the previous two seasons, but the loss of much of the starting lineup that led the Hokies in those years left some people's skeptical about Tech's chance to reach a third Bowl Alliance game.