1997 NCAA Division I-AA football season

The 1997 NCAA Division I-AA football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I-AA level, began in August 1997, and concluded with the 1997 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game on December 20, 1997, at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Youngstown State Penguins won their fourth I-AA championship, defeating the McNeese State Cowboys by a score of 10−9.

Conference changes and new programs

 * Prior to the 1997 season, the Atlantic 10 Conference began to sponsor football at the Division I-AA level by taking over the football-only Yankee Conference, which had been a charter member of the subdivision. All 12 members (Boston University, Connecticut, Delaware, James Madison, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Northeastern, Rhode Island, Richmond, Villanova, and William & Mary) moved into the new conference.

NCAA Division I-AA playoff bracket
The NCAA departed from standard bracket structure—where, for example, the fourth and fifth seeds could meet in the second round—in order to place teams from the same conference in different halves of the bracket.

* Denotes host institution Source: