Film Room: 1915 Cornell@Penn
The 1915 Penn-Cornell game was expected to be a blowout. Cornell was 8-0 with a high-scoring offense that put up 40 points in four of those victories, plus a 34-7 drubbing of Michigan. They are recognized as national champs by several pollsters.
Penn started the season 3-0 before going 0-4-2 in the next six games, including a 0-0 tie versus Michigan.
Despite expectations for Big Red dominance, the Quakers put up a fight. They led the game at half and after three quarters, both times by a 9-7 score. But Cornell dominated the fourth quarter, putting up 17 more points for a 24-7 win.
The game film is quite choppy, commonly starting partway through a play or ending before they finish. Still, the motion picture captures some interesting moments, including multiple instances of clipping, which was legal in 1915, and several forward passes, making them the earliest forward passes on film that I recall seeing. The entire movie is 4 minutes and 4 seconds, including the intro and outro. Some segments appear out of order, but it's still fun to see a pre-WWI game.
For reference, Cornell has white panels on the backs of their jerseys with numbers painted on the panels. Penn has their numbers stitched onto their jerseys and lack panels.
Due to the quality of the film, I recommended watching it at 1/2 speed. (Click Settings (the gear in the lower right), click Playback Speed, and choose 0.5) I suggest having the YouTube video in one window and the Tidbit in another to make it easier to follow along.
Here's my curation of the events on film:
0:18: The Penn dog and Cornell bear mascots get into a tussle. The cheerleaders are from Penn.
The next minute mainly includes punts and miscellaneous plays that are hard to track so that you can buzz through those. Most of the good stuff happens during the third minute.
1:13: Penn scores its only touchdown of the game. The extra point attempt is a free placekick with the holder lying on the ground using the over-under technique.
1:31 A long play. The Penn crowd is excited
2:00: #21 for Penn is the right halfback on defense. He begins the play in a three-point stance several yards off the ball. Why they used that technique is anyone's guess.
2:14: Penn direct snaps the ball and throws a forward pass into a crowd on the right side. The pass is incomplete.
2:19: Perhaps the game was getting chippy. Cornell punts from near its goal line, and as the punter begins walking downfield, a Penn player approaches him with apparent plans to clip the punter.
2:20: The next play is on the opposite goal line, but you can see Penn's #15 with a late clip on a Cornell player in front of the goal post.
2:22: More clipping as Penn's #30(?) goes after Cornell late in the play.
2:25 Penn throws a forward pass. Penn's wing or end on the offensive left (#8) heads into the backfield and takes a handoff from the quarterback before turning and throwing downfield on the left side. The passer does not have the time to assess whether his man is open, but he sends the ball downfield anyway. (BTW, Penn's quarterback is Bert Bell, future NFL Commissioner.)
2:30 The camera captures one of Penn's cheerleaders giving his team a cheer. The same cheerleader and likely the motion picture photographer who filmed this movie are captured in the photograph below that appeared in Penn's 1916 yearbook.
2:33 Cornell goes off tackle left for a touchdown. At the 2:35 mark, #7 of Cornell clips #15 of Penn. #15 retaliates by trying to clip #7. (Based on down, distance, and outcome, this play matches the newspaper description for Cornell's first-quarter touchdown.)
2:39 Penn celebrates. Despite rules prohibiting fans and others along the sideline, many join the fun.
2:54 Penn throws a forward pass into the end zone
3:03 Penn runs a play along the sideline as was the norm in the days before hash marks.
3:05 A Cornell runner is tackled, and #2 from Penn arrives late and places his elbow and forearm in the Cornell runner's face.
Hopefully, pointing out some of the goings on helps illustrate the nature of the game in 1915. It also makes clear that those Ivy Leaguers were not always the cleanest playing bunch in the land.
Other Tidbit reviews of early college game films include:
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When the Big Red played in Cambridge, some enterprising Harvard students (no doubt future Nobel laureates) kidnapped the bear, whose nickname was Touchdown. Cornell had revenge, whitewashing the Crimson and snapping its 33-game unbeaten streak.