The 1897 Cincinnati football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

as an independent during the 1897 college football season. In their first season under head coach

Tom Fennell Thomas Francis Fennell (May 25, 1875 – November 4, 1936) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Cincinnati in 1897 and at Pennsylvania State University from 1904 to 1908, compiling ...

, the Bearcats compiled a 9–1–1 record. William Bass was the team captain. The team played home games at

League Park League Park was a baseball park located in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was situated at the northeast corner of Dunham Street (now known as East 66th Street) and Lexington Avenue in the Hough, Cleveland, Hough neighborhood. It was built ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. Following their regular season schedule, which they completed with a record of 7–1–1, losing only to the

Carlisle Indians The Carlisle Indians football team represented the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in college football, intercollegiate football competition. The program was active from 1893 until 1917, when it was discontinued. During the program's 25 years, th ...

, Cincinnati played two post-season games in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. The Bearcats were invited to New Orleans by the Southern Athletic Club to play a football game on New Year's Day. Cincinnati easily defeated the Athletic Club team, and at the victory party following the win, students from nearby

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

(LSU) invited the Cincinnati players to come to their school to play another game. The Cincinnati–LSU game, which took place a few days later and pre-dated the first

Rose Bowl Game The Rose Bowl Game is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2. The Rose ...

by five years, resulted in a 28–0 (exact score varies by source) Cincinnati win. This game ''could'' be considered, the school's athletic department contemplates, as the first bowl game in Cincinnati football history.Year-by-Year scores
(PDF) Cincinnati Sports Information Department, ''2006 Football Media Guide'', Page 31. Accessed December 30, 2007
Archived
October 8, 2009.

Schedule

References

Cincinnati Bearcats football seasons Cincinnati football {{collegefootball-1890s-season-stub