1915 Cornell Big Red football team

The 1915 Cornell Big Red football team was an American football team that represented Cornell University as an independent during the 1915 college football season. In its fourth season under head coach Albert Sharpe, the Big Red compiled a 9–0 record, shut out four of nine opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 287 to 50.[1] The 1915 team was known as The Big Red Machine, defeating every opponent by more than a touchdown.[2]

1915 Cornell Big Red football
National champion (Helms, Houlgate, NCF)
Co-national champion (Parke H. Davis)
ConferenceIndependent
Record9–0
Head coach
CaptainCharley Barrett
Home stadiumSchoellkopf Field
Seasons
← 1914
1916 →
1915 Eastern college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Cornell     9 0 0
Pittsburgh     8 0 0
Columbia     5 0 0
Harvard     8 1 0
Carnegie Tech     7 1 0
Rutgers     7 1 0
Villanova     6 1 0
Washington & Jefferson     8 1 1
Colgate     5 1 0
Syracuse     9 1 2
Dartmouth     7 1 1
Tufts     5 1 2
Penn State     7 2 0
Lafayette     8 3 0
Princeton     6 2 0
Franklin & Marshall     6 2 0
Temple     3 1 1
Geneva     6 3 0
Wesleyan     6 3 0
Allegheny     5 3 0
Swarthmore     5 3 0
Army     5 3 1
Lehigh     6 4 0
Holy Cross     3 2 2
Brown     5 4 1
Fordham     4 4 0
NYU     4 4 1
Middlebury     3 4 2
Muhlenberg     4 5 0
Yale     4 5 0
Boston College     3 4 0
Penn     3 5 2
WPI     3 5 1
Buffalo     3 5 0
Carlisle     3 6 2
Rhode Island State     3 5 0
New Hampshire     3 6 1
Gettysburg     3 6 0
Rochester     3 6 0
Bucknell     2 6 3
Vermont     1 4 2
Williams     1 7 0

Cornell was retroactively named as the national champion by NCAA-designated "major selectors" the Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, and National Championship Foundation, and as a co-national champion (with Pittsburgh) by Parke H. Davis.[3]: 112–114 

Two Cornell players were consensus first-team selections on the 1915 All-American football team: quarterback Charley Barrett and end Murray Shelton.[4] Both of them were later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.[5][6] Barrett has been called the best quarterback of the 1910s.[2]

Schedule

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DateTimeOpponentSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 283:00 p.m.GettysburgW 13–07,000[7][8][9]
October 23:00 p.m.Oberlin
  • Schoellkopf Field
  • Ithaca, NY
W 34–7[10]
October 9Williams
  • Schoellkopf Field
  • Ithaca, NY
W 46–66,000[11]
October 16Bucknell
  • Schoellkopf Field
  • Ithaca, NY
W 41–0[12]
October 23at HarvardW 10–025,000[13]
October 30VPI
  • Schoellkopf Field
  • Ithaca, NY
W 45–0[14][15]
November 6at MichiganW 34–722,000[16]
November 13Washington and Lee
  • Schoellkopf Field
  • Ithaca, NY
W 40–21[17][18]
November 25at PennW 24–920,000[19]
1915 Big Red players
Benedict
Hoffman
Miller
Mueller

References

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  1. ^ "1915 Cornell Big Red Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  2. ^ a b "1915 College Football National Championship". TipTop 25. Archived from the original on August 8, 2017. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  3. ^ 2020 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records (PDF). Indianapolis: The National Collegiate Athletic Association. July 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  4. ^ "Football Award Winners" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2016. p. 6. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  5. ^ "Charley Barrett". National Football Foundation. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  6. ^ "Murray Shelton". National Football Foundation. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  7. ^ "Football Game Figures in Movies". The Ithaca Journal. September 29, 1915. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Red Team Scores Two Touchdowns on Gettysburg". The Ithaca Journal. September 29, 1915. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Cornell Opens Football Season Tuesday". The Ithaca Journal. September 27, 1915. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Cornell Improves in Oberlin Game". The Ithaca Journal. October 4, 1915. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Williams Buried By Cornell in Easy Contest". The Ithaca Journal. October 11, 1915. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Bucknell Game No Fair Test for Cornell". The Ithaca Journal. October 18, 1915. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Melville E. Webb Jr. (October 24, 1915). "Ithaca Wins After 25 Years of Trying". The Boston Globe. pp. 1, 17 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Cornell Uses Passes With Marked Success". The Ithaca Journal. November 1, 1915. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Cornell Crushes Virginia 'Poly': Ithacans Keep Southerners Far Away from Their Goal Throughout Game". The New York Times. October 31, 1915. p. III-3 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Gruesome Details of Ferry Field Tragedy". Detroit Free Press. November 7, 1915. p. 21 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Cornell Strengthens Hold on 1915 Title". The Ithaca Journal. November 15, 1915. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Cornell Forced to Limit to Beat Washington & Lee". Buffalo Courier. November 14, 1915. p. 79 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Twenty Thousand See Cornell Win From Penn Team". The Philadelphia Inquirer. November 26, 1915. pp. 1, 13 – via Newspapers.com.
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