The 2016 Cornell Big Red football team represented Cornell University in the 2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season as a member of the Ivy League.

They were led by fourth-year head coach David Archer and play their home games at Schoellkopf Field.

Cornell finished the season 4–6 overall and 2–5 in Ivy League play to tie for sixth place.

The Big Red hosted Ivy League foes Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth and Penn, and traveled to Harvard, Brown, and Columbia.

As in 2015, Cornell's non-conference opponents were Bucknell and Colgate of the Patriot League, and Sacred Heart of the Northeast Conference (NEC).