Fordham Football Honors With Another Win

NY, it's not really a state known for football, besides large powerhouses like Syracuse, Buffalo, and Hofstra but there's a couple of collegiate local teams that have had a great standing tradition to honor and commemorate a great cause, not only for the sake of a cross-city rivalry but on a national level. 

Despite the proximity and long football histories, Fordham and Columbia only met three times in the 100 years from 1890 until 1991 (1890, 1902, and a Division III Fordham team was fielded in 1972), with Columbia shutting out Fordham each time. However, for 35 of those years the Rams did not have a Division 1 team to field against the Lions. 

Fordham withdrew its football program in 1954 citing financial issues, until 1970 when it was re-introduced at the Division III level. Fordham didnt play D1 football again until 1989. Fordham won the fourth meeting, in 1991, 20-16.

"The Liberty Cup"

The origin of the "Liberty Cup" was established by Columbia University and Fordham University after the 10th meeting of the teams. The game followed the devastating attacks of September 11th in New York City. 

Multiple schools cancelled their games that weekend, but Fordham and Columbia wanted to express a great American feeling of resilience and toughness. The schools decided against playing on Sept. 15, but later in the season agreed to meet on Thanksgiving Day (November 22, 2001). Fordham thumped Columbia 41-10 before a sold out  crowd of 7,000 fans. 

Fordham and Columbia have played yearly since 2000. The Liberty Cup game now opens Columbia's season; it's usually the third game on Fordham's schedule. As of the 2014 meeting, Fordham leads the series 9-4.

September 20th 2014, Fordham got after Columbia again with a dominate 49-7 victory, which handed Columbia its first loss of its 2014-15 season. 

For Fordham, the offense usually creates headlines in the past matches but this time defense showed what it's really capable of. Fordham's defense stoned Columbia, holding them  to just 165 yards of total offense, which 82 of those coming in the fourth quarter, and nine total first downs. Columbia made it past the 50 yard line once  in the first 57:30 before going on a late scoring drive to prevent the shutout by Fordham. 

LS