1891 Vanderbilt Commodores football team

The 1891 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represented Vanderbilt University during the 1891 college football season. The team's head coach and team captain was Elliott H. Jones, who served his second season in that capacity. This was the first year that Vanderbilt had a schedule of opponents other than the school next door to them. Vanderbilt and Sewanee, charter members of the Southern Intercollegiate Conference, play their first game. The rivalry, typically reserved for Thanksgiving Day, continues into World War II. When the series ended in 1944, Vanderbilt owned a 40–8–4 advantage.

1891 Vanderbilt Commodores football
ConferenceIndependent
Record3–1
Head coach
CaptainElliott Jones
Seasons
← 1890
1892 →
1891 Southern college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Trinity (NC)     3 0 0
Wake Forest     1 0 0
VMI     3 0 1
Vanderbilt     3 1 0
Navy     5 2 0
Virginia     2 1 2
Delaware     5 3 1
Kentucky State College     1 1 0
Georgetown     2 2 0
Sewanee     1 2 0
Central (KY)     0 1 0
Furman     0 1 0
Tennessee     0 1 0
West Virginia     0 1 0
Johns Hopkins     0 2 0
Mercer     0 2 0
North Carolina     0 2 0
Richmond     0 2 0

Vanderbilt opened the short season with a 22–0 win over Sewanee, followed by its first-ever loss, 6–24 to Washington University. After defeating Sewanee 26–4 in a rematch, the Commodores won their rematch at St. Louis against Washington 4–0.

The 1891 Vanderbilt team had five games scheduled; however, the fourth was Centre College of Danville, KY.The game was set for November 21, 1891, at Nashville’s Athletic Park (later known as Sulphur Dell), and at 3 p.m. Vanderbilt called the game due to excessive rain. The Centre team’s hotel bill and the game advertising was for paid by Vanderbilt. The university also paid $45.00 in cash to help pay for their return train fare.

Schedule

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DateOpponentSiteResultSource
November 7at SewaneeW 22–0[1]
November 14Washington UniversityL 6–24[2]
November 21Centre
  • Nashville's Athletic Park
  • Nashville, TN
Canceled [3]
November 26Sewanee
  • Nashville's Athletic Park
  • Nashville, TN
W 26–4[4]
December 5at Washington UniversityW 4–0[5]

References

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  1. ^ "Vanderbilt defeats Sewanee rather handily on the latters' grounds". Nashville Banner. November 9, 1891. Retrieved March 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Washington 24, Vanderbilt 6". St. Louis Globe-Democrat. November 15, 1891. Retrieved March 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Rain interfered; No football game was played at Athletic Park Saturday afternoon". Nashville Banner. November 23, 1891. Retrieved March 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Vanderbilt wins; Sewanee goes under by the score of 26 to 4". The Daily American. November 27, 1891. Retrieved March 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Washington beaten; The Vanderbilt foot-ball team defeats the St, Louisans 4 to 0". St. Louis Globe-Democrat. December 6, 1891. Retrieved March 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.