1891 Purdue football team

{{short description|American college football season}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Infobox college sports team season

| year = 1891

| team = Purdue

| sport = football

| image = 1891 Purdue football team.jpg

| image_size = 285

| conference = Indiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association

| short_conf = IIAA

| record = 4–0

| conf_record = 4–0

| head_coach = Knowlton Ames

| hc_year = 1st

| captain = J. C. Teeters

| stadium =

| champion = IIAA champion

| next = 1892

}}

{{1891 Indiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings}}

The 1891 Purdue football team was an American football team that represented Purdue University during the 1891 college football season. The team compiled a 4–0 record in the university's fourth season fielding an intercollegiate football team.{{cite web|title=Purdue Yearly Results (1890-1894)|publisher=David DeLassus|work=College Football Data Warehouse|access-date=December 8, 2015|url=http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/active/p/purdue/1890-1894_yearly_results.php|archive-date=December 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151205074731/http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/active/p/purdue/1890-1894_yearly_results.php|url-status=dead}} For the 1891 season, Purdue hired Knowlton Ames as its football coach. Ames played for Princeton from 1886 to 1889 and was considered one of the greatest players ever to play college football, after scoring 730 points for Princeton. The 1891 Purdue team shut out all four opponents, outscoring {{cfb link|year=1891|team=Wabash Little Giants|title=Wabash}}, {{cfb link|year=1891|team=DePauw|title=DePauw}}, Indiana, and {{cfb link|year=1891|team=Butler Christians|title=Butler}} by a total of 194 to 0.{{cite web|title=Purdue 2006 Football Information Guide|publisher=Purdue University|page=126|access-date=December 29, 2016|url=http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/pur/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/06fbg-123-208.pdf|archive-date=December 30, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230155717/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/pur/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/06fbg-123-208.pdf|url-status=dead}} Purdue's 60–0 victory over Indiana{{cite news|title=Purdue Shuts Down Bloomington|newspaper=Chicago Daily Tribune|date=November 15, 1891|page=5|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3781756/purdue_shuts_out_bloomington/}} was the first installment in a rivalry which later became noted for the award of the Old Oaken Bucket trophy. It was this team that earned the university the Boilermakers nickname, as the Daily Argus News, a local Crawfordsville newspaper, reported on the game versus Wabash with the article Slaughter of Innocents: Wabash Snowed Completely Under by the Burly Boiler Makers from Purdue [sic].

J. C. Teeters was the team captain.{{cite web|title=2016 Boilermaker Football Media Guide|publisher=Purdue University|year=2016|page=87|url=http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/pur/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2016-17/misc_non_event/mediaguide.pdf|access-date=2018-06-21|archive-date=2017-07-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170721153507/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/pur/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2016-17/misc_non_event/mediaguide.pdf|url-status=dead}}