Eventually, as the athletic department became more cohesive, the Yeomen mascot was adopted, drawing on the phonetic sound of "O" Men and the schools official motto of "Learning and Labor".

The faculty had not approved football as a sport prior to 1891, but it agreed to hire Heisman as head coach for the 1892 season because he was recommended by Walter Camp.

In 1892 the "O" Men, as they were called at the time, were led by Heisman to their first undefeated season with a perfect 7–0 record, beating their opponents by an average score of 37-4 which included two wins over Ohio State and one over Michigan.

Because Heisman enrolled in post graduate courses in art, he was permitted to play football for Oberlin as he participated in the late stages of some games near the end of the season.

Heisman became known as the leading pioneer in developing the game of football into what it is today with formation shifts, centering the ball, and forward passing.

The Heisman name is more famous today than back in 1892, being synonymous with the award for most outstanding player in college football.

[3] On a cold Saturday afternoon in November 1892, Oberlin's team took the field in Ann Arbor against a heavily favored Michigan squad which had trounced them handily the year before.

The team's fastest running back was Charles Savage, who a few years later would become Oberlin's director of athletics and, like Heisman, a nationally prominent figure.

Oberlin's best lineman was theology student John Henry Wise, half-German, half-Hawaiian, who after graduation returned to his island home and joined the 1895 Counter-Revolution aimed at toppling the Republic of Hawaii and restoring Queen Liliuokalani and the monarchy.

The team captains agreed on a shortened second half, to end at 4:50 p.m. so Oberlin could catch the last train home.

Next the umpire (a Michigan man) ruled that four minutes remained on the game clock, owing to timeouts that Oberlin's timekeeper had not recorded.

They regularly competed with, and beat, teams like Michigan and Ohio State and rarely experienced a season with a losing record.

Ohio State left the league to join the Big Ten in 1913, signifying the widening athletic distance between liberal arts schools like Oberlin and major universities.

As a result of The Great Depression and World War II many young men were enlisting in the armed forces instead of attending college and playing football.

The college, as a private institution, began focusing on the liberal arts aspect of Oberlin's education, forgoing aggressive expansion like former rivals Michigan and Ohio State.

In August 1996, Sports Illustrated featured Oberlin in its annual College Football Preview as the worst team in Division III.

Oberlin lost 42–6 and continued a 44-game losing streak, ending it with a 53–22 victory over Kenyon College at home in October 2001.

On November 16, 2013, Oberlin broke ground on the new Austin E. Knowlton Athletics Complex while playing its final game at Savage Stadium.

Ramsey had just completed his 15th season at Oberlin in which the Yeomen, whose roster consisted of just 35 players, finished 3-7 overall and 2–7 in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC).

In 2020 Steve Opgenorth announced the hiring of Alex Hanna to the position of Assistant Conerbacks Coach and Director of Football Operations.

The two first played in 1892 and would compete 26 times over the next 30 seasons before Ohio State outpaced Oberlin's growth and left them behind to join the Big Ten.

Carroll, 2007 Clay Eaton, 2012 Bryant Walker, 2017 Oberlin history: essays and impressions, Geoffrey Blodgett, Kent State University Press, 2006 When Oberlin Was King of the Gridiron: The Heisman Years, Nat Brandt, Kent State University Press, 2001