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Columbia vs. Williams

Columbia and Williams first met in 1900 and have played 17 times; Columbia leads the series 13–⁠3–⁠1. Over the last 10 meetings it’s Columbia 9–⁠1, and Columbia has won the last 9.

Columbia wins
13
Williams wins
3
Ties
1
First meeting
1900
Longest streak
9 Columbia
Current streak
9 Columbia
Last 10 meetings
Columbia 9–⁠1
Most recent
1937

The series at a glance

’0’1’2’3’4’5’6’7’8’9W–L
1900s4–⁠0–⁠1
1920s5–⁠3
1930s4–⁠0
Average margin
16.4 points; 5 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
At Columbia
13–⁠3–⁠1 Columbia’s record at home
Shutouts
11

Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.

Games that tell the story

  1. Columbia’s biggest win1932: Columbia 46, Williams 0by 46 points
  2. Williams’s biggest win1921: Williams 20, Columbia 0by 20 points
  3. Upset1921: Williams 20, Columbia 0Williams had a 16% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  4. Upset1922: Williams 13, Columbia 10Williams had a 21% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  5. Upset1923: Williams 10, Columbia 0Williams had a 24% chance, by our ratings before kickoff

Both programs through the years

End-of-season Elo ratings of Columbia and Williams, 1900 on1300150017001900192019401960198020002020

Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.

From the newspapers

  • The New-York tribune's story of the 1900 game: NO SCORE FOR COLUMBIA. A DRAWN BATTLE WAGED AT COLUAI- BIA FIELD WITH WILLIAMS

    1900 · New-York tribune, New York [N.Y.], Oct 11, 1900

  • The The Washington times's story of the 1901 game: WEEKS BACK IN HIS PLACE. Columbia Defeats Williams College at the Polo Grounds.

    1901 · The Washington times, Oct 6, 1901

  • The The Washington times's story of the 1903 game: COLUMBIA PLAYED TO A STANDSTILL Williams Gives New York College Hard Battle.

    1903 · The Washington times, Washington [D.C.], Oct 11, 1903

  • The The Saint Paul globe's story of the 1904 game: ONE FOR COLUMBIA Williams Outplays New Workers in Second Half

    1904 · The Saint Paul globe, St. Paul, Minn., Oct 9, 1904

  • The Evening star's story of the 1905 game: Holy Cross. COLUMBIA DEFEATS WILLIAMS. A Hard-Fought Game Ends With Score i to s.

    1905 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Oct 15, 1905

Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.

Every game

Oct 2, 1937Columbia 40, Williams 6at Columbia
Oct 22, 1932Columbia 46, Williams 0at Columbia
Oct 24, 1931Columbia 19, Williams 0at Columbia
Oct 25, 1930Columbia 3, Williams 0at Columbia
Oct 26, 1929Columbia 33, Williams 0at Columbia
Oct 27, 1928Columbia 20, Williams 6at Columbia
Oct 22, 1927Columbia 19, Williams 0at Columbia
Oct 24, 1925Columbia 26, Williams 0at Columbia
Oct 25, 1924Columbia 27, Williams 3at Columbia
Oct 27, 1923Williams 10, Columbia 0at Columbia
Oct 28, 1922Williams 13, Columbia 10at Columbia
Oct 29, 1921Williams 20, Columbia 0at Columbia
Oct 14, 1905Columbia 11, Williams 5at Columbia
Oct 8, 1904Columbia 11, Williams 0at Columbia
Oct 10, 1903Columbia 5, Williams 0at Columbia
Oct 5, 1901Columbia 5, Williams 0at Columbia
Oct 10, 1900Columbia 0, Williams 0at Columbia

Every game is listed as played on the field.