Catholic Cardinals football
| Catholic University Cardinals | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| First season | 1895 |
| Head coach | Mike Gutelius |
| Stadium | Cardinal Stadium |
| Seating capacity | 3,500 |
| Field surface | Artificial turf |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Conference | NEWMAC |
| All-time record | 316–346–15 (.478) |
| Bowl record | 2–0–1 (.833) |
| Conference titles | 2 |
| Consensus All-Americans | 2 |
| Colors | Cardinal Red and Black |
| Website | CUA Cardinals |
The Catholic University Cardinals football team represents The Catholic University of America in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III college football competition as a member of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC), until July 1, 2017, when they will join the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference. The team played its first game in 1895 and was a major college team in the first half of the 20th century, into the 1940s. The football program was put on hiatus during World War II, and then discontinued shortly afterwards. In 1965, football returned to the university at the club level, and, in 1977, re-entered NCAA competition as part of Division III. The Cardinals have participated in the Division III playoffs three times in the late 1990s and have secured two ODAC championships.
Catholic's first known intercollegiate football game came on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1895, in Emmitsburg, Maryland. They faced Mount Saint Mary's, of which six of the eleven Catholic players were alums. A contemporary article in The Mountaineer, the Mount Saint Mary's student newspaper, described it as being "rather warm for hard foot-ball playing, and consequently neither team seemed to play with much snap or vim." The Mountaineers scored a touchdown immediately before halftime to take a 4–0 lead. Catholic recovered a blocked field goal attempt and ran it back 92 yards for the equalizing score. Mount Saint Mary's later pulled away with a safety and a touchdown with two-point kick. The final result was 12–4.
In the 1920s, the Catholic "Red and Black" became known as the "Cardinals", sometimes expanded to the "Flying Cardinals" or, less often, the "Fighting Cardinals".Brookland Stadium opened on October 4, 1924, and helped to increase the prominence of the football team. In 1930, Catholic secured former Minnesota assistant Arthur "Dutch" Bergman as their new head coach. During his tenure, Bergman scheduled teams farther afield such as Detroit, DePaul, South Dakota State, and St. Mary's (Texas).
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