1897 Penn Quakers football team

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]

1897 Penn Quakers football
National champion (Billingsley, Helms, Houlgate, NCF) Co-national champion (Davis)
Conference	Independent
1897 record	15–0
Head coach	George Washington Woodruff (6th season)
Captain	John Minds
Home stadium	Franklin Field

1897 Eastern college football independents records
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Penn			–					15	–	0	–	0
Yale			–					9	–	0	–	2
Buffalo			–					7	–	0	–	0
Princeton			–					10	–	1	–	0
Harvard			–					10	–	1	–	1
Drexel			–					7	–	1	–	1
Army			–					6	–	1	–	1
Lafayette			–					9	–	2	–	1
Colgate			–					5	–	2	–	1
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
Temple			–					3	–	3	–	0
Trinity (CT)			–					4	–	4	–	1
Wesleyan			–					6	–	6	–	0
Tufts			–					6	–	7	–	0
Geneva			–					3	–	4	–	1
Pittsburgh College			–					2	–	3	–	1
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
Western Univ. Penn.			–					1	–	3	–	0
Rutgers			–					2	–	7	–	0

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

Date	Opponent	Site	Result
September 22	at Bucknell	Lewisburg, PA	W 17–0
September 25	Franklin & Marshall	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA	W 33–0
September 29	Washington & Jefferson	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA	W 18–4
October 2	Bucknell	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA	W 33–0
October 6	Gettysburg	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA	W 57–0
October 9	Lehigh	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA	W 58–0
October 13	Virginia	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA	W 42–0
October 16	Dartmouth	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA	W 34–0
October 20	Penn State	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA	W 24–0
October 23	Lafayette	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA	W 46–0
October 30	at Brown	Providence, RI (rivalry)	W 40–0
November 6	Carlisle	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA	W 20–10
November 13	Wesleyan	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA	W 22–0
November 20	Harvard	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA (rivalry)	W 15–6
November 25	Cornell	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA (rivalry)	W 4–0

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 2013-10-09 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.

Further reading

• McQuade, Dan (January 8, 2019). "Clemson Can't Hold A Candle To The Last College Football Team To Go 15-0". Deadspin. Retrieved January 9, 2019.