The Ivy League will begin competing in the FCS Playoffs beginning with the 2025 season, it was officially announced Wednesday.
The Ivy League Council of Presidents approved a proposal to participate in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs following a process that was initiated by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) last year.
“The Ivy League prides itself on a storied tradition of impact, influence and competitive success throughout the history of college football. We now look ahead to a new chapter of success and to further enhancing the student-athlete experience with our participation in the NCAA FCS playoffs,” said Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris. “I want to commend the students on our SAAC for their thoughtful and thorough proposal as well as their commitment to the league’s legislative process.”
Ivy League football currently consists of eight teams — Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard,
Penn, Princeton, and Yale.
“It’s a monumental day in the Ivy League and a special day to be an Ivy League student-athlete,” said Mason Shipp, a senior football student-athlete at Yale who serves as the Ivy League SAAC chair and penned the proposal. “Thank you to the Presidents for listening and responding to the voices of your students. For the future generations that are fortunate enough to represent the Ivy League in the FCS playoffs, go win us some hardware!”
Ivy League football teams currently play a 10-game football schedule that includes a full round-robin conference schedule consisting of seven games, plus three non-conference opponents.
“I am thrilled to be a part of the inclusion of Ivy League football in the FCS playoffs,” said Leah Carey, a senior softball student-athlete at Brown who serves as the Ivy League’s national Division I SAAC representative. “A huge thank you to everyone at the Ivy League office and the Presidents for making this milestone possible. I can’t wait to see the next student-athletes competing at the highest level.”
The 2024 Ivy League football season concluded with three co-champions — Columbia, Dartmouth, and Harvard.
This is great for the schools and student athletes!
Now time for the MEAC and SWAC to do the same thing.
Although somewhere a 4th placed Big Sky or MVFC team is going to be pissed off.
As you probably know, unless the Celebration Bowl ceases to exist, MEAC and SWAC champions will continue to go to the Celebration Bowl.
I could be wrong, but my perception is that the MEAC and SWAC largely disengaged from the playoffs because they were rarely competitive. I can’t recall the timetable, but let’s say that was at least 10-15 years ago. If memory serves, NC A&T may have made one playoff appearance subsequently with a team that was well-above HBCU conference-winning norms of late.
This Princeton Tigers Fan approves it.
It’s hard not to be a college football fan and not hear stories about the old days in which the Ivy League were football powerhouses. Harvard, Princeton (who were practically a founding member of the sport alongside Rutgers) and Yale especially. Hopefully such significance can be restored to them in the years to come.
Harvard won the three-way tie by beating both Columbia and Dartmouth.
They likely would have replaced NAU, or whoever was the last team in, in the first round of the FCS playoffs.
I wish the Ivies would play more than 10 games. I can accept their choosing never to do 12 in years where that is allowed, but 11 would make sense. Since they’re all filthy rich entitled colleges with high endowments, perhaps they could all agree to play an HBCU, or a Pioneer school, for an eleventh game. They could afford it as a home game, and pay a good spend to those schools.