1903 Columbia Blue and White football team

The 1903 Columbia Blue and White football team was an American football team that represented Columbia University as an independent during the 1903 college football season. In its second season under head coach Bill Morley, the team compiled a 9–1 record, shut out its first seven opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 148 to 43.^[1][2]

1903 Columbia Blue and White football
Conference	Independent
Record	9–1
Head coach	Bill Morley (2nd season)
Captain	Richard Shore Smith
Home stadium	Polo Grounds
Seasons ← 1902 1904 →

1903 Eastern college football independents records

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Princeton			–					11	–	0	–	0
Yale			–					11	–	1	–	0
Columbia			–					9	–	1	–	0
Dartmouth			–					9	–	1	–	0
Geneva			–					9	–	1	–	0
Holy Cross			–					8	–	2	–	0
Temple			–					4	–	1	–	0
Washington & Jefferson			–					8	–	2	–	0
Lehigh			–					9	–	2	–	1
Harvard			–					9	–	3	–	0
Penn			–					9	–	3	–	0
Army			–					6	–	2	–	1
Carlisle			–					6	–	2	–	1
Amherst			–					7	–	3	–	0
Lafayette			–					7	–	3	–	0
Cornell			–					6	–	3	–	1
Colgate			–					4	–	2	–	1
Penn State			–					5	–	3	–	0
Swarthmore			–					6	–	4	–	0
Dickinson			–					7	–	5	–	0
Brown			–					5	–	4	–	1
Syracuse			–					5	–	4	–	0
Fordham			–					1	–	1	–	0
Frankin & Marshall			–					5	–	5	–	1
Buffalo			–					4	–	4	–	0
Rutgers			–					4	–	4	–	1
Delaware			–					4	–	4	–	0
Villanova			–					2	–	2	–	0
Bucknell			–					4	–	5	–	0
Vermont			–					4	–	5	–	0
Tufts			–					5	–	8	–	0
Wesleyan			–					3	–	6	–	1
Springfield Training School			–					1	–	3	–	1
NYU			–					2	–	5	–	0
New Hampshire			–					2	–	6	–	1
Pittsburgh College			–					1	–	5	–	1
Western U. Penn.			–					1	–	8	–	1

Fullback Richard Shore Smith was the team captain.^[2] Smith and tackle Tom Thorp received first-team honors on the 1903 All-America team. W. E. Metzenthin also starred in the backfield for Columbia. The team's sole loss was to the 1903 Yale team that featured seven first-team All-Americans, including Foster Rockwell and Tom Shevlin.

Columbia's sports teams were commonly called the "Blue and White" in this era, but had no official nickname. The name "Lions" would not be adopted until 1910.^[3]

The team played its home games at the Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 26	Wesleyan	Polo Grounds New York, NY	W 10–0		[4]
September 30	vs. Columbia alumni	Polo Grounds New York, NY	W 16–0		[5]
October 3	Union (NY)	Polo Grounds New York, NY	W 36–0		[6]
October 7	Hamilton	Polo Grounds New York, NY	W 29–0		[7]
October 10	Williams	Polo Grounds New York, NY	W 5–0	2,000	[8]
October 14	Swarthmore	Polo Grounds New York, NY	W 5–0		[9]
October 17	Amherst	Polo Grounds New York, NY	W 12–0	4,000	[10]
October 24	Penn	Polo Grounds New York, NY	W 18–6	15,000	[11][12]
October 31	Yale	Polo Grounds New York, NY	L 0–25	32,000	[13]
November 14	at Cornell	Percy Field Ithaca, NY (rivalry)	W 17–12		[14]