
The Cornell–Penn football rivalry is an American
college football
College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
rivalry
A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...
between the
Cornell Big Red
The Cornell Big Red is the informal name of the sports and other competitive teams that represent Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The university sponsors 37 varsity sports, and several intramural sports, intramural and club teams. Cornell ...
and
Penn Quakers
The Penn Quakers are the athletic teams of the University of Pennsylvania. The school sponsors 33 varsity sports. The school has won three NCAA national championships in men's fencing and one in women's fencing.
Sponsored teams
Men's varsit ...
.
Traditionally, the game was played on
Thanksgiving Day
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...
in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
,
[ but now alternates between Philadelphia and ]Ithaca
Ithaca most commonly refers to:
*Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey''
*Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca
*Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College
Ithaca, Ithaka ...
, New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
. The game was often played as the last game of the regular season for both teams. Beginning in 2018, Cornell has faced Columbia in the last game of the regular season, while Penn plays Princeton in the last game of the regular season. The game was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, marking the first cancellation after an uninterrupted streak of 101 games going back to 1919.
In the 130 meetings since 1893 (interrupted in 1918 and 2020), Penn leads the series 78–47–5, with Penn forfeiting the game in 1997 (because of the participation of an academically ineligible player).[
]
Attendance
The Thanksgiving Cornell–Penn football game, broadcast on national radio before the television era, attracted huge crowds to Franklin Field
Franklin Field is a sports stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the eastern edge of the University of Pennsylvania's campus. Named after Penn's founder, Benjamin Franklin, it is the home stadium for the Penn Relays, and the university's ve ...
in Philadelphia.[ The 1931 game attracted a reported 70,000, and earned a story on the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer along with a quarter-by-quarter breakdown of every detail of the game. The 1947 game attracted a crowd estimated at "about 80,000".] The 1959 game attracted 23,661. By 1965 attendance was down to 10,543, and the Thanksgiving tradition was ended and a standard home-and-away schedule was instituted.
Played in Philadelphia for 69 consecutive meetings from 1894 through 1963 before alternating between Philadelphia and Ithaca, Cornell–Penn is the fifth-most played college football rivalry as of 2022. Dedicated in 1995, the Trustees' Cup has since been awarded annually to the winner of the Cornell–Penn game. Penn has won the Trustees' Cup 21 times to Cornell's 8.
Game results
See also
* List of NCAA college football rivalry games
This is a list of List of sports rivalries, rivalry games in college football. The list also shows any trophy awarded to the winner of the rivalry between the teams.
NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision
...
* List of most-played college football series in NCAA Division I
This is a list of the most-played college football College rivalry, series in NCAA Division I. The The Rivalry (Lafayette–Lehigh), Lafayette–Lehigh rivalry, known as "The Rivalry," is the most-played in Division I at 159 games. Lehigh and Lafa ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornell-Penn football rivalry
College football rivalries in the United States
Cornell Big Red football
Penn Quakers football