1896 Harvard Crimson football team

1896 Harvard Crimson football
Conference	Independent
Record	7–4
Head coach	Bert Waters (1st season)
Captain	Edgar Wrightington
Home stadium	Soldiers' Field

1896 Eastern college football independents records

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Fordham			–					1	–	0	–	0
Lafayette			–					11	–	0	–	1
Princeton			–					10	–	0	–	1
Washington & Jefferson			–					8	–	0	–	1
Penn			–					14	–	1	–	0
Yale			–					13	–	1	–	0
Pittsburgh College			–					11	–	2	–	0
Buffalo			–					9	–	1	–	2
Villanova			–					10	–	4	–	0
Bucknell			–					5	–	2	–	1
Harvard			–					7	–	4	–	0
Boston College			–					5	–	3	–	0
Storrs			–					5	–	3	–	0
Cornell			–					5	–	3	–	1
Syracuse			–					5	–	3	–	2
Temple			–					3	–	2	–	0
Army			–					3	–	2	–	1
Rutgers			–					6	–	6	–	0
Carlisle			–					5	–	5	–	0
Holy Cross			–					2	–	2	–	2
Brown			–					4	–	5	–	1
Wesleyan			–					4	–	5	–	1
Frankin & Marshall			–					3	–	4	–	2
Geneva			–					3	–	4	–	0
Penn State			–					3	–	4	–	0
Colgate			–					3	–	4	–	1
Amherst			–					3	–	6	–	1
Western Univ. Penn.			–					3	–	6	–	0
Lehigh			–					2	–	5	–	0
Tufts			–					2	–	6	–	1
Swarthmore			–					2	–	6	–	0
New Hampshire			–					1	–	4	–	0
Drexel			–					1	–	5	–	0
Massachusetts			–					0	–	4	–	0
Rhode Island			–					0	–	4	–	0

The 1896 Harvard Crimson football team represented Harvard University in the 1896 college football season. The Crimson finished with a 7–4 record under first-year head coach Bert Waters. The team won its first six games, but lost four of the final five games, including losses to rivals Princeton and Penn.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result
September 26	Williams	Soldiers' Field Cambridge, MA	W 6–0
October 3	Trinity (CT)	Soldiers' Field Cambridge, MA	W 34–0
October 7	Newton A.C.	Soldiers' Field Cambridge, MA	W 18–0
October 10	Wesleyan	Soldiers' Field Cambridge, MA	W 28–0
October 17	Brown	Soldiers' Field Cambridge, MA	W 12–0
October 24	at Cornell	Percy Field Ithaca, NY	W 13–4
October 28	vs. Harvard alumni		L 5–8
October 31	Carlisle	Soldiers' Field Cambridge, MA	W 4–0
November 7	Princeton	Soldiers' Field Cambridge, MA (rivalry)	L 0–12
November 14	Boston Athletic Association	Soldiers' Field Cambridge, MA	L 6–8
November 21	at Penn	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA (rivalry)	L 6–8