The team has attained five national championships and has had seven players inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

In 1869, the first intramural football on the Cornell campus took place, although it did not resemble the modern sport and there were 40 players per side.

In 1874, the university president and co-founder, Andrew Dickson White, disallowed a team of Cornell students from traveling to Cleveland to play Michigan.

[3] In 1892, Pop Warner first played the game, and the Cornellians finished the season with a 10–1 record under head coach Carl Johanson, often referred to as the "Father of Cornell football".

[2] In 1901, under first-year coach Ray Starbuck, the Cornellians outscored their opponents 324–38 and won 11 games for the only time in school history.

[2] After the game, Cornell voluntarily forfeited to Dartmouth when review of film showed the Big Red had inadvertently used five downs.

Between 1969 and 1971, running back Ed Marinaro broke numerous NCAA records with a career total of 1,881 yards and 24 touchdowns.

[2] Beginning in 2018, Cornell has played New York State Ivy League rival, the Columbia Lions, in their final game.

[7] The Big Red returned to Schoellkopf in September 2021 to play Virginia Military Institute, its first game after a 665-day hiatus.

[17] Pete Gogolak became the first soccer-style kicker in pro football in 1964; the most recent is Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Bryan Walters.