The 1997 Columbia Lions football team was an American football team that represented Columbia University during the 1997 NCAA Division I-AA football season. Columbia tied for fifth in the Ivy League.

In their ninth season under head coach Ray Tellier, the Lions compiled a 4–6 record and were outscored 259 to 141. Jay DuPertuis and Matt Kuhn were the team captains.^[1]

The Lions' 3–4 conference record tied for fifth in the Ivy League standings. Columbia was outscored 177 to 106 by Ivy opponents.^[2]

Columbia played its homes games at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium in Upper Manhattan, in New York City.

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 20	at Harvard	Harvard Stadium Boston, MA	L 7–45	7,658	[3]
September 27	Towson*	Wien Stadium New York, NY	W 16–6	2,710	[4]
October 4	at Lafayette*	Fisher Field Easton, PA	L 3–31	3,822	[5]
October 11	Holy Cross*	Wien Stadium New York, NY	L 16–45	3,335	[6]
October 18	Penn	Wien Stadium New York, NY	W 7–24 [a]	3,909	[7][8]
October 25	Yale	Wien Stadium New York, NY	W 21–10	4,665	[9]
November 1	Princeton	Wien Stadium New York, NY	W 17–0	1,015	[10]
November 8	Dartmouth	Wien Stadium New York, NY	L 21–23	1,375	[11]
November 15	at Cornell	Schoellkopf Field Ithaca, NY (rivalry)	L 22–33	1,158	[12]
November 22	at Brown	Brown Stadium Providence, RI	L 11–42	1,520	[13]
*Non-conference game Homecoming

^ a: In January 1998, Penn agreed to forfeit its Ivy League wins from 1997 after star defensive tackle Mitch Marrow was declared ineligible as a part-time student.^[8] Columbia's^[1] and Penn's^[14] record books regard their 1997 meeting, a 24–7 Penn victory on the field, as a Columbia win, as do the 1997 win–loss records and season standings in the Ivy League record book.^[2]