The 1915 Cornell Big Red 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 wi ...

team that represented

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

as an independent during the

1915 college football season The 1915 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the ''Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book'' listing Cornell, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Pittsburgh as having been selected national champions in later years. Only Cornel ...

. In its fourth season under head coach

Albert Sharpe Albert Sharpe (15 April 1885 – 13 February 1970) was a Northern Irish stage and film actor. Life and work Albert Edward Sharpe was born at 8 Goudy's Court in Belfast on 15 April 1885, one of six children born to fishmonger John Sharpe, a Pres ...

, 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. The 1915 team was known as The Big Red Machine, defeating every opponent by more than a touchdown. There was no contemporaneous system in 1915 for determining a national champion. However, Cornell was retroactively named as the national champion by the

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owners ...

, Houlgate System, and National Championship Foundation, and as a co-national champion (with

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

) by

Parke H. Davis Parke Hill Davis (July 15, 1871 – June 5, 1934)"PARKE H. DAVIS BURIED.; Many Prominent Men at Funeral of Football Authority", special to ''The New York Times'', June 9, 1934 was an American football player, coach, and historian. Shortly befo ...

. Two Cornell players were consensus first-team selections on the 1915 All-American football team: quarterback Charley Barrett and end

Murray Shelton Murray Norcross Shelton (April 20, 1893 – August 14, 1985) was an American football player. Born in Dunkirk, New York, Shelton graduated from Cornell University in 1916 and was a member of the Sphinx Head Society. In 1973, he was elected to the ...

. Both of them were later inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vo ...

. Barrett has been called the best quarterback of the 1910s.

Schedule

References

External links

* {{College Football National Champion pre-AP Poll navbox

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

Cornell Big Red football seasons College football national champions College football undefeated seasons

Cornell Big Red football The Cornell Big Red football team represents Cornell University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) college football competition as a member of the Ivy League. It is one of the o ...