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1940 Cornell Big Red football
1940 Cornell Big Red football
Conference	Independent
Ranking
AP	No. 15
Record	6–2
Head coach	Carl Snavely (5th season);
Offensive scheme	Single-wing
Captain	Walter Matuszczak
Home stadium	Schoellkopf Field
	Seasons ← 1939 1941 →

1940 Eastern college football independents records
v t e	Conf			Overall
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
No. 5 Boston College		–		11	–	0	–	0
Duquesne		–		7	–	1	–	0
No. 14 Penn		–		6	–	1	–	1
Penn State		–		6	–	1	–	1
No. 12 Fordham		–		7	–	2	–	0
No. 15 Cornell		–		6	–	2	–	0
La Salle		–		6	–	2	–	0
Princeton		–		5	–	2	–	1
Columbia		–		5	–	2	–	2
Brown		–		6	–	3	–	1
Bucknell		–		4	–	2	–	2
Boston University		–		5	–	3	–	0
Colgate		–		5	–	3	–	0
Hofstra		–		4	–	3	–	0
Harvard		–		3	–	2	–	3
Dartmouth		–		5	–	4	–	0
Temple		–		4	–	4	–	1
Tufts		–		4	–	4	–	0
Vermont		–		4	–	4	–	0
Villanova		–		4	–	5	–	0
Pittsburgh		–		3	–	4	–	1
Syracuse		–		3	–	4	–	1
Buffalo		–		3	–	5	–	0
Carnegie Tech		–		3	–	5	–	0
Manhattan		–		3	–	6	–	0
Providence		–		3	–	6	–	0
NYU		–		2	–	7	–	0
Yale		–		1	–	7	–	0
Army		–		1	–	7	–	1
CCNY		–		1	–	5	–	1
Massachusetts State		–		1	–	8	–	0

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1940 Cornell Big Red football team was an American football team that represented Cornell University during the 1940 college football season. In their fifth season under head coach Carl Snavely, the Big Red compiled a 6–2 record and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 201 to 38.^[1]^[2]

Cornell was ranked at No. 7 (out of 697 college football teams) in the final rankings under the Litkenhous Difference by Score system for 1940.^[3]

Dartmouth game controversy

Bill Murphy scored a touchdown in the last few seconds of the Dartmouth game, resulting in a 7–3 win for Cornell being officially recorded.^[4] However, observers felt that an illegal fifth down had occurred, and therefore the touchdown was invalid.^[4]^[5] After developing and reviewing filmed footage of the game, the referee agreed.^[4]^[5]^[6] Cornell coach Carl Snavely agreed to give up the win, and thus the official score was revised to 3–0 in favor of Dartmouth.^[4]^[5]^[6] The loss broke Cornell's 18-game winning streak.^[4] As of 2024, it is believed to be the "only collegiate sporting contest to be decided off the field after its completion."^[4]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
October 5	Colgate		Schoellkopf Field Ithaca, NY (rivalry)	W 34–0	15,000	^[7]
October 12	at Army		Michie Stadium West Point, NY	W 45–0	27,917	^[8]
October 19	Syracuse	No. 1	Schoellkopf Field Ithaca, NY	W 33–6	18,000	^[9]
October 26	Ohio State	No. 1	Schoellkopf Field Ithaca, NY	W 21–7	34,500	^[10]
November 2	Columbia	No. 1	Schoellkopf Field Ithaca, NY (rivalry)	W 27–0	13,500	^[11]
November 9	at Yale	No. 1	Yale Bowl New Haven, CT	W 21–0	30,000	^[12]
November 16	at Dartmouth	No. 2	Memorial Field Hanover, NH (rivalry)	L 0–3	10,000	^[6]^[13]^[14]
November 23	at No. 12 Penn	No. 5	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA (rivalry)	L 20–22	80,000	^[15]
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game