The 1997 Grambling State Tigers football team represented Grambling State University as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) during the 1997 NCAA Division I-AA football season. The Tigers were led by head coach Eddie Robinson in his 55th year and finished the season with a record of three wins and eight losses (3–8, 2–5 SWAC). The Tigers offense scored 187 points while the defense allowed 258 points.^[1]

This was Eddie Robinson's final season as head coach.^[2] Robinson spent fifty-six years as the head coach at historically black Grambling State University in Grambling in Lincoln Parish in northern Louisiana, from 1941 through 1997.^[2]

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 6	at Alcorn State	Jack Spinks Stadium Lorman, MS	L 20–44		[3]
September 20	at Langston*	Taft Stadium Oklahoma City, OK	W 20–0	20,000	[4]
September 27	vs. Hampton*	Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ (Urban League Classic)	L 7–42	49,156	[5]
October 4	vs. Prairie View A&M	Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX (rivalry)	W 33–6	55,119	[6]
October 11	Mississippi Valley State	Eddie G. Robinson Memorial Stadium Grambling, LA	W 20–13		[7]
October 18	vs. Arkansas–Pine Bluff	Independence Stadium Shreveport, LA (Red River Classic)	L 16–22	13,004	[8]
October 25	at No. 20 Jackson State	Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium Jackson, MS	L 0–23	35,430	[9]
November 1	Texas Southern	Eddie G. Robinson Memorial Stadium Grambling, LA	L 16–21		[10]
November 9	at Alabama State	Cramton Bowl Montgomery, AL[A 1]	L 13–20		[12]
November 15	North Carolina A&T*	Eddie G. Robinson Memorial Stadium Grambling, LA	L 35–37		[13]
November 29	vs. Southern	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, LA (Bayou Classic)	L 7–30		[14]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from The Sports Network Poll released prior to the game

^[1]

• None of the players from the Tigers were drafted in the 1998 NFL draft.^[15]