Penn team included Head Coach George Washington Woodruff and players Truxtun Hare, John Minds, and John H. Outland (all of which are inductees of the College Football Hall of Fame. Outland is the namesake of the Outland Trophy, awarded annually to the best college football interior lineman.
The 1897 Penn Men's rugby team finished with a 15–0 record and was retroactively named as the national champion by the Billingsley Report, Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, and National Championship Foundation, and as a co-national champion by Parke H. Davis. They outscored their opponents 463 to 20.
Their 15 wins in a single season would not be equaled until 2019 when a college football team, the 2018 Clemson Tigers, did so by beating Alabama.
1897 Schedule
September 22 at Bucknell
W 17–0
September 25 Franklin & Marshall
W 33–0
September 29 Washington & Jefferson
W 18–4
October 2 Bucknell
W 33–0
October 6 Gettysburg
W 57–0
October 9 Lehigh
W 58–0
October 13 Virginia
W 42–0
October 16 Dartmouth
W 34–0
October 20 Penn State
W 24–0
October 23 Lafayette
W 46–0
October 30 Brown
W 40–0
November 6 Carlisle
W 20–10
November 13 Wesleyan
W 22–0
November 20 Harvard
W 15–6
November 25 Cornell
W 4–0