Turn Back the Clock: The last Turkey Bowl

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The Red and Blue finished up their disappointing season in the Ivy League on Saturday with a 48-38 loss to Cornell at Franklin Field — Penn’s first loss to the Big Red since 2006. In their history, the Quakers have played Cornell more than any other opponent, and the series is the third most-played in the Ancient Eight, behind only Princeton-Yale and "The Game" of Harvard-Yale. On the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday, this week’s segment will take a look back at the historic series and turn back the clock to Penn’s last Thanksgiving Day football game.

On this day in Penn sports history …

November 23, 1989: For the 59th time, but the first since 1965, the Quakers and the Big Red met on Thanksgiving Day. The history of the Penn-Cornell Turkey Bowl goes back long before the Ivy League was even conceived. The teams first met on the holiday in 1895 in Franklin Field’s inaugural season. From that year until 1938, the game was played every Thanksgiving in Philadelphia, as the college football-crazed town came out in large numbers for the game and Franklin Field could hold far more people than the Big Red’s home stadium. After a brief three-year hiatus, the game was picked up again in 1942 and was played on the holiday 17 times between then and 1965. The likely end to tradition was Cornell’s desire to play Penn at home. The first game to be played in Ithaca, N.Y., was the 71st meeting in the series in 1964, and since then, Penn and Cornell have alternated hosting the game each year. But for one season, in 1989, the tradition was resurrected.

When the game was scheduled the year before, it looked promising that it would have title implications, as the two rivals were both Ivy co-Champions in 1988. Hopes for a repeat, however, were long gone for both teams. Penn entered the game with a four-game losing streak after starting off 2-0 in Ivy play, and Cornell was even worse at 1-5. Yale and Princeton had already been declared Ivy co-Champs, as all the other Ivy teams had concluded their seasons. But the Quakers still had much to play for: First, for revenge, as the Big Red had defeated Penn in the season’s final game the previous year to force a tie for league champion. And second, for pride, as ending the season on a five-game losing streak would be nothing short of embarrassing.

The 10 a.m. game was televised nationally on ESPN. It was played on a snow-covered Franklin Field — Philadelphia’s first Thanksgiving snow since 1938 — in front of a crowd of just over 10,000. Cornell struck first on a 1-yard run by fullback Todd Nicholson midway through the first quarter to go up 7-0. Less than one minute into the second quarter, Big Red quarterback Chris Cochrane scored a rushing touchdown of his own. Penn would add a field goal before the break, but Cornell still led at the half, 13-3.

Penn’s fate was not sealed until the fourth quarter. Down 13-6 and at the Cornell 43, the Quakers made an impromptu fake punt call after seeing a flaw in the Big Red’s defensive alignment. A pitch to Penn fullback was unsuccessful for a 1-yard loss and the ball was turned over on downs. The Red and Blue still had an opportunity for a defensive stop on the subsequent drive on a third-and-13 play. Cochrane hit his fullback John McNiff in the flat — well short of the first down — but McNiff then proceeded to make several Quakers defenders whiff and he gained 20 for the first. A few plays later, Nicholson ran into the endzone to put Cornell up, 20-6, which would be the final score.

All in all, the revival of the Thanksgiving game was not a successful one. The timing was poor, with both Penn and Cornell well out of Ivy contention that year. And the snow certainly did not help attendance. Here are the thoughts at the time from Paul Rubincam, Steve Bilsky’s predecessor as Athletic Director, on the possibility of a future Thanksgiving Day game:

“It is not something intended to be done every year. But we certainly can think about doing it again when it is our turn to host the Penn-Cornell game. The Cornell people have a large alumni base in Philadelphia and it is a natural discussion to have. I think if the conditions are right, where you have two teams vying for the Ivy championship on a more ideal day, you can draw even 25,000 to 30,000 people.”