1921 Cornell Big Red football team

1921 Cornell Big Red football
National champion (Helms, Houlgate, NCF)
Co-national champion (Davis)
ConferenceIndependent
Record8–0
Head coach
Offensive schemeSingle-wing
Base defense6–3–2
CaptainWilson S. Dodge
Home stadiumSchoellkopf Field
Uniform
Seasons
← 1920
1922 →
1921 Eastern college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Washington & Jefferson     10 0 1
Lafayette     9 0 0
Cornell     8 0 0
Penn State     8 0 2
Yale     8 1 0
New Hampshire     8 1 1
Franklin & Marshall     6 1 2
Villanova     6 1 2
Carnegie Tech     7 2 0
Syracuse     7 2 0
Harvard     7 2 1
Boston University     6 2 0
Dartmouth     6 2 1
Brown     5 3 1
Bucknell     5 3 1
Geneva     5 3 1
Pittsburgh     5 3 1
Holy Cross     5 3 0
Army     6 4 0
Princeton     4 3 0
Boston College     4 3 1
Fordham     4 3 2
Penn     4 3 2
Colgate     4 4 2
Lehigh     4 4 0
Springfield     4 5 2
Vermont     3 4 0
NYU     2 3 3
Buffalo     2 3 2
Drexel     2 3 1
Rutgers     4 6 0
Rhode Island State     3 5 0
Columbia     2 6 0
Tufts     1 5 2
Duquesne     0 4 1

The 1921 Cornell Big Red football team was an American football team that represented Cornell University as an independent during the 1921 college football season. In its second season under head coach Gil Dobie, Cornell compiled an 8–0 record, shut out five of eight opponents (including a 110–0 win over Western Reserve), and outscored all opponents by a total of 392 to 21,[1][2] culminating in an invitation to participate in the 1922 Rose Bowl game. The 1921 season was part of a 26-game winning streak that continued until October 1924 and included national championship claims for 1921, 1922, and 1923.

There was no contemporaneous system in 1921 for determining a national champion. However, Cornell was retroactively named as the national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, and National Championship Foundation, and as a co-national champion by Parke H. Davis.[3]

Fullback Eddie Kaw was a consensus first-team selection on the 1921 All-American football team.[4] Tackle Wilson S. Dodge was the team captain.[5] Multiple Cornell players received All-Eastern honors: Kaw; quarterback George Pfann; halfbacks Floyd Ramsey and George P. Lechler; ends Charles E. Cassidy and David Munns; guard Leonard C. Hanson; and Dodge.[6]

  1. ^ "1921 Cornell Big Red Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  2. ^ "Sports Writers Give Cornell High Rank In Football World". The Ithaca Journal-News. November 26, 1921. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ 2020 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records (PDF). Indianapolis: The National Collegiate Athletic Association. July 2020. pp. 112–114. 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. ^ "Dodge Chosen Leader of 1921 Cornell Eleven". The Ithaca Journal-News. December 13, 1920. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Cornell Grid Players Win Places on Three All-Eastern Elevens". The Ithaca Journal-News. December 5, 1921. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.