The 1923 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 with ...

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 teach an ...

as an independent during the

1923 college football season The 1923 college football season saw several teams finish their seasons unbeaten and untied. As such, numerous schools claim a national championship for the 1923 season. Illinois (coached by Bob Zuppke) and Michigan (coached by Fielding "Hurry-U ...

. The team finished with an 8–0 record, shut out five of eight opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 339 to 27. The 1923 season was part of 26-game winning streak that began in October 1921 and ended in October 1924 and included national championship claims for 1921, 1922, and 1923. There was no contemporaneous system in 1923 for determining a national champion. However, Cornell was retroactively named as the national champion by

Jeff Sagarin Jeff Sagarin is an American sports statistician known for his development of a method for ranking and rating sports teams in a variety of sports. His ratings have been a regular feature in the ''USA Today'' sports section since 1985, have been use ...

in 1978.

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, and

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

were selected as the 1923 national champion or co-champion by other selectors. Cornell quarterback

George Pfann George R. Pfann (October 6, 1902 – December 17, 1996) was an American football player and coach. He played college football at Cornell University, where he never lost while starring as a quarterback, twice named an All-American. Before gradua ...

was a consensus first-team player on the 1923 All-America college football team. Tackle

Frank Sundstrom Frank Leander Sundstrom (January 5, 1901 – May 23, 1980) was an American Republican Party politician who represented for three terms from 1943 to 1949. Early life and education Born in Massena, New York on January 5, 1901 to a Swedish immig ...

also received first-team All-America honors from

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage and the system ...

, Lawrence Perry, and

Percy Haughton Percy Duncan Haughton (July 11, 1876 – October 27, 1924) was an American football and baseball player and coach. He served as head football coach at Cornell University from 1899 to 1900, at Harvard University from 1908 to 1916, and at Columbia ...

Schedule

References

{{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 teach an ...

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 ol ...