The 1896 Penn Quakers football team represented the University of Pennsylvania in the 1896 college football season. The Quakers finished with a 14–1 record in their fifth year under head coach and College Football Hall of Fame inductee, George Washington Woodruff. Significant games included victories over Navy (8–0), Carlisle (21–0), Penn State (27–0), Harvard (8–6), and Cornell (32–10), and its sole loss against undefeated national champion Lafayette (4–6). The 1896 Penn team outscored its opponents by a combined total of 326 to 24.