Move Over ‘Bama and Clemson: Penn Was First 

In college football, 2019 shares a storyline with 1897.

(Note: Care is required telling when this story because, back then, there were two ‘Penn’ colleges—what we know today as the University of Pennsylvania (Penn Quakers), the focus of this story, and what we know today as Gettysburg College, which was Pennsylvania College from 1832-1921).

Come January 7, neither ‘Bama nor Clemson will have an edge on the Penn Quakers. For sure, either the Tide or Tigers will win its 15^th game of the season that night. But Penn achieved that plateau first, nearly 125 years ago—in 1897, to be specific.

1897 Penn team (photo, UPenn Archives)

That ‘97 Penn team was the national champ, too—by acclamation as the consensus pick (there weren’t playoffs or bowl games back then). It was an easy choice, too.

The Quakers pitched twelve shutouts that year, outscoring the opposition 463-20 (average score, 30.8-1.3). Half of the oppositions’ points came from one team—the (now defunct) Carlisle Indians, a squad that would later feature All-America Jim Thorpe (1911, 1912).

Penn had an advantage in 1897, too: it played thirteen home games. Home was Franklin Field, a stadium that opened in 1895 and remains (to this day) the Quakers’ home venue.

Penn was an independent in 1897. While we’d like to think of The Ivy League as an old and foundational collegiate league, the conference didn’t come into existence until 1954. But Penn did play future Ivy rivals back then. The 1897 slate included four—Brown, Harvard, Cornell, and Dartmouth. Cornell came the closest, losing by four in the season finale. Penn outdistanced the other three teams by a combined score of 89-6.

By today’s measure, there were also major college teams on the ’97 schedule—Penn State and Virginia, specifically. But Penn skunked those squads, too, by the aggregate of 66 to nothing.

1897 wasn’t a one-off for Penn, either. The football Quakers owned the last decade of the 19^th Century, going 11-3 in 1890, 11-2 in ’91, 15-1 in ’92, 12-3 in ’93, 12-0 in ’94, 14-0, in ’95, 14-1 in ’96, 12-1 in ’98, and 8-3-2 in ’99…then bouncing back to go 12-1 in 1900.

George Washington Woodruff (photo, Wikipedia)

One reason for the dominance was Head Coach George Washington Woodruff. One of the big names of the day in college ball, Woodruff’s name doesn’t carry the same stature historically as do other pigskin luminaries of the time, such as Pop Warner, Walter Camp, and Fielding Yost.

Woodruff’s name may have lost luster because he wasn’t able to parlay his Penn success at other schools (Illinois, Georgia). If he had, his name would be at the top of the list of all-time great coaches. At Penn, Woodruff won nearly 90% of his games, and his teams went undefeated in three of his ten years at the helm.

Woodruff had outstanding players, too, including John Outland—still a familiar name in college football—who played both tackle and halfback during his time in Philadelphia and achieved All-America status at both positions. The Outland Trophy bears his name.

T.T. Hare, another great player, was named All-America in four consecutive seasons. Hare played a position that no longer exists in football—the guardsback. That position enabled a formation that Woodruff, Hare, and Penn made famous.

In 1926, The Harvard Crimson described it this way.

“It started with only the necessary five men in the line–the centre, guards, and tackles. At a given signal, the right guard ran back from the line and took up a position in the backfield, while the right halfback jumped in and filled his position temporarily, thereby fulfilling the provision of the rules that five men must be in the scrimmage at the start of a play. As soon as the right guard is in his new position the ball is snapped to the quarter. The right guard dashes forward; receives the ball from the quarterback as he passes him, and plunges into the opening at the right of centre with his head down for all he is worth. Meanwhile the right end, fullback, left halfback, left end and quarterback fall in behind him and push. Thus a wedge of six men is hurled at the opposing line like a flying meat axe. No human frame could withstand the momentum of this onslaught.”

Yeah, I’ll be watching ‘Bama-Clemson on January 7. But I’ll also be thinking about that 1897 Penn team. There were great teams back then, too.