1897 Yale Bulldogs football team

1897 Yale Bulldogs football
1897 Yale Bulldogs football
Co-national champion (Davis)
Conference	Independent
Record	9–0–2
Head coach	Frank Butterworth (1st season);
Home stadium	Yale Field
	Seasons ← 1896 1898 →

1897 Eastern college football independents records
v t e	Conf			Overall
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
Penn		–		15	–	0	–	0
Princeton		–		10	–	1	–	0
Washington & Jefferson		–		10	–	1	–	0
Yale		–		9	–	0	–	2
Buffalo		–		9	–	1	–	0
Harvard		–		10	–	1	–	1
Army		–		6	–	1	–	1
Vermont		–		3	–	0	–	2
Lafayette		–		9	–	2	–	1
Drexel		–		6	–	2	–	1
Colgate		–		5	–	2	–	1
Dickinson		–		7	–	3	–	2
Swarthmore		–		7	–	3	–	2
Fordham		–		2	–	1	–	1
Cornell		–		5	–	3	–	1
Syracuse		–		5	–	3	–	1
Brown		–		7	–	4	–	0
Carlisle		–		6	–	4	–	0
Boston College		–		4	–	3	–	0
Holy Cross		–		4	–	3	–	1
Bucknell		–		3	–	3	–	1
NYU		–		3	–	3	–	0
Temple		–		3	–	3	–	0
Trinity (CT)		–		4	–	4	–	1
Wesleyan		–		6	–	6	–	0
Tufts		–		6	–	7	–	0
Geneva		–		3	–	4	–	1
Pittsburgh College		–		3	–	5	–	2
Villanova		–		3	–	5	–	1
Penn State		–		3	–	6	–	0
Amherst		–		2	–	6	–	2
Frankin & Marshall		–		2	–	6	–	2
Lehigh		–		3	–	7	–	0
New Hampshire		–		2	–	5	–	0
Rutgers		–		2	–	6	–	0
Western Univ. Penn.		–		1	–	3	–	0

The 1897 Yale Bulldogs football team was an American football team that represented Yale University as an independent during the 1897 college football season. The team finished with a 9–0–2 record, shut out seven of eleven opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 170 to 35.^[1] Frank Butterworth was the head coach.

There was no contemporaneous system in 1895 for determining a national champion. However, Yale was retroactively named as the co-national champion by Parke H. Davis.^[2] Most selectors designated Penn (perfect 15–0 record) as the national champion for 1897; Yale and Penn did not play during the 1897 season.

Four Yale players were selected as consensus first-team players on the 1897 All-America team. The team's consensus All-Americans were: quarterback Charles de Saulles; end John A. Hall; guard Gordon Brown; and tackle Burr Chamberlain.^[3] Other notable players included halfback Charles T. Dudley, fullback Malcolm McBride, center George Cadwalader, guard Charles Chadwick, and tackle James O. Rodgers.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 29	at Trinity (CT)	Trinity Athletic Field Hartford, CT	W 10–0	800	^[4]
October 2	Wesleyan	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 30–0		^[5]
October 6	Amherst	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 18–0		^[6]
October 9	Williams	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 32–0		^[7]
October 16	at Newton Athletic Association	Newton, MA	W 10–0		^[8]
October 20	Brown	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 18–14	2,000	^[9]
October 23	vs. Carlisle	Polo Grounds New York, NY	W 24–9	9,000–13,000	^[10]^[11]
October 30	at Army	The Plain West Point, NY	T 6–6		^[12]
November 6	Chicago Athletic Association	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 16–6		^[13]
November 13	at Harvard	Soldier's Field Cambridge, MA (rivalry)	T 0–0	25,000	^[14]
November 20	Princeton	Yale Field New Haven, CT (rivalry)	W 6–0	18,000	^[15]