1897 Penn Quakers football
National champion (Billingsley, Helms, Houlgate, NCF)
Co-national champion (Davis)
ConferenceIndependent
Record15–0
Head coach
CaptainJohn Minds
Home stadiumFranklin Field
Seasons
← 1896
1898 →
1897 Eastern college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Penn   –   15 – 0 – 0
Princeton   –   10 – 1 – 0
Washington & Jefferson   –   10 – 1 – 0
Yale   –   9 – 0 – 2
Buffalo   –   9 – 1 – 0
Harvard   –   10 – 1 – 1
Army   –   6 – 1 – 1
Vermont   –   3 – 0 – 2
Lafayette   –   9 – 2 – 1
Drexel   –   6 – 2 – 1
Colgate   –   5 – 2 – 1
Dickinson   –   7 – 3 – 2
Swarthmore   –   7 – 3 – 2
Fordham   –   2 – 1 – 1
Cornell   –   5 – 3 – 1
Syracuse   –   5 – 3 – 1
Brown   –   7 – 4 – 0
Carlisle   –   6 – 4 – 0
Boston College   –   4 – 3 – 0
Holy Cross   –   4 – 3 – 1
Bucknell   –   3 – 3 – 1
NYU   –   3 – 3 – 0
Temple   –   3 – 3 – 0
Trinity (CT)   –   4 – 4 – 1
Wesleyan   –   6 – 6 – 0
Tufts   –   6 – 7 – 0
Geneva   –   3 – 4 – 1
Pittsburgh College   –   3 – 5 – 2
Villanova   –   3 – 5 – 1
Penn State   –   3 – 6 – 0
Amherst   –   2 – 6 – 2
Frankin & Marshall   –   2 – 6 – 2
Lehigh   –   3 – 7 – 0
New Hampshire   –   2 – 5 – 0
Rutgers   –   2 – 6 – 0
Western Univ. Penn.   –   1 – 3 – 0

The 1897 Penn Quakers football team represented the University of Pennsylvania in the 1897 college football season. The team finished with a 15–0 record and was retroactively named as the national champion by the Billingsley Report, Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, and National Championship Foundation, and as a co-national champion by Parke H. Davis.[1] They outscored their opponents 463 to 20.[2]

Legacy

Head coach George Washington Woodruff and players Truxtun Hare, John Minds, and John H. Outland are all inductees of the College Football Hall of Fame. Outland is the namesake of the Outland Trophy, awarded annually to the best college football interior lineman. The Quakers' 15 wins in a single season would not be equalled until the 2018 Clemson Tigers.[3][4]

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 22at BucknellLewisburg, PAW 17–0[5]
September 25Franklin & Marshall
W 33–01,500[6]
September 293:47 p.m.Washington & Jefferson
  • Franklin Field
  • Philadelphia, PA
W 18–41,000[7][8]
October 23:15 p.m.Bucknell
  • Franklin Field
  • Philadelphia, PA
W 33–0[9]
October 63:40 p.m.Gettysburg
  • Franklin Field
  • Philadelphia, PA
W 57–01,500[10]
October 93:07 p.m.Lehigh
  • Franklin Field
  • Philadelphia, PA
W 58–04,000[11]
October 133:41 p.m.Virginia
  • Franklin Field
  • Philadelphia, PA
W 42–03,000[12]
October 163:21 p.m.Dartmouth
  • Franklin Field
  • Philadelphia, PA
W 34–05,000[13]
October 20Penn State
  • Franklin Field
  • Philadelphia, PA
W 24–0500[14][15]
October 23Lafayette
  • Franklin Field
  • Philadelphia, PA
W 46–018,000[16][17][18][19]
October 30at Brown
W 40–0[20]
November 6Carlisle
  • Franklin Field
  • Philadelphia, PA
W 20–1014,000[21][22]
November 13Wesleyan
  • Franklin Field
  • Philadelphia, PA
W 22–03,000[23]
November 20Harvard
  • Franklin Field
  • Philadelphia, PA (rivalry)
W 15–625,000[24]
November 25Cornell
  • Franklin Field
  • Philadelphia, PA (rivalry)
W 4–020,000[25][26]

References

  1. ^ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2015). "National Poll Rankings" (PDF). NCAA Division I Football Records. NCAA. p. 107. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  2. ^ 1897 University of Pennsylvania football scores and results Archived October 9, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. College Football Data Warehouse. Retrieved on October 8, 2013.
  3. ^ "Single Season Leaders and Records for Wins". Sports Reference. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  4. ^ "Alabama vs. Clemson score: Tigers crush Tide to reclaim throne, win 2019 national championship". CBS Sports. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  5. ^ "Penn's Big Guards Are Sadly Missed". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. September 23, 1897. p. 4. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  6. ^ "Penn's Extremely Good Showing". The Times. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. September 26, 1897. p. 11. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  7. ^ "Our Quaker Kickers Encounter A Tartar". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. September 30, 1897. p. 4. Retrieved September 27, 2021 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  8. ^ "Penn Caught A Lively Tartar". The Times. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. September 30, 1897. p. 8. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  9. ^ "Bucknell Laid Out To the Tune Of 33". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. October 3, 1897. p. 10. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  10. ^ "The Quakers Play Fast Football". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. October 7, 1897. p. 4. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  11. ^ "Penn Scores Heavily On Weak Lehigh". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. October 10, 1897. p. 8. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  12. ^ "Quakers Score 42 Points On Virginia". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. October 14, 1897. p. 4. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  13. ^ "The Quakers's Play Was A Revelation". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. October 17, 1897. p. 8. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  14. ^ "Penn Downed State By A Small Score". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. October 21, 1897. p. 4. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  15. ^ "Penn's Playing Was Mediocre". The Times. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. October 21, 1897. p. 6. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  16. ^ "Pennsylvania Lays Out Lafayette Completely". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. October 24, 1897. p. 1. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  17. ^ "Pennsylvania Lays Out Lafayette (continued)". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. October 24, 1897. p. 8. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  18. ^ "Great Day For Penn". The Times. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. October 24, 1897. p. 1. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  19. ^ "Great Day For Penn (continued)". The Times. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. October 24, 1897. p. 2. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  20. ^ "And Now The Great Brown Team Falls Before Penn To The Tune Of 40 Points". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. October 31, 1897. p. 10. Retrieved March 11, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  21. ^ "Indians Score On Penn's Team". The Times. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. November 7, 1897. p. 1. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  22. ^ "Indians Score On Penn's Team (continued)". The Times. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. November 7, 1897. p. 10. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  23. ^ "The Ministerial Team Play Quite A Game". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. November 14, 1897. p. 9. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  24. ^ "Pennsylvania Lowered Fair Harvard's Colors: In a Pretty Contest Witnessed by a Crowd of Twenty-Five Thousand People". The Times (Philadelphia). November 21, 1897. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "Cornell Gives Penn A Hard Fight For Victory". The Times. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. November 26, 1897. p. 2. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  26. ^ "Hard Fight For Victory (continued)". The Times. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. November 26, 1897. p. 7. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.

Further reading

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