The Ivy League announced that it will introduce a bye week to its football schedule beginning with the 2027 season.
Conference members currently play a seven‑game, round‑robin Ivy League schedule along with three non‑conference matchups, with league play traditionally beginning in Week 3—after most FCS programs have already played two or three games.
Starting in 2027, the Ivy League schedule will shift one week earlier to create an open date in the middle of the season. League play will begin in the rest of the FCS’s Week 2 on September 11, and the conference-wide bye week will fall on Saturday, October 23 (Week 7).
The league noted that all 2027 Ivy League games originally slated for October 23 will move to the Ivy’s new Week 1 on September 11. Those games are as follows:
- Brown at Cornell
- Columbia at Dartmouth
- Harvard at Princeton
- Penn at Yale
Details on how the bye week will be implemented in subsequent seasons will be announced at a later date.
2027 Ivy League Football Schedule
Week 1 – Sept. 11
Week 2 – Sept. 18
Week 3 – Sept. 25
Week 4 – Oct. 2
Week 5 – Oct. 9
Week 6 – Oct. 16
Week 7 – Bye Week
Week 8 – Oct. 30
Week 9 – Nov. 6
Week 10 – Nov. 13
Week 11 – Nov. 20
* This article was updated after publication to clarify the start date and list the matchups that were moved.
So, this essentially puts it back where it was before Week Zero was opened up to everyone. Starting in FCS Week 2, which follow Weeks 1, and 0… is no different from starting in Week 3 when there was no Week 0.
.
The conference-wide Bye week is interesting… but silly. It puts a restriction on when Ivy teams fit in their 3 OOCs. How long before they just drop down to Division II at this rate? Everyone else in FCS is mostly playing 12 games, except for those who are at 11 because it’s hard to schedule OOCs in some areas (such as New England, not surprisingly) when conferences over-restrict scheduling.
Dittos to your points.
I.D. Not notice the start date comparison betwee 2026 & 2027 Kalenders.
1 point I do like about Championship Division 🏈 is that the NCAA doesn’t require small Franchises (implicitly or explicitly) to play 12 Games. I don’t know, is there = a bylaw in place requiring an 11 Game season?
IMO, that furthers the 63 GrantsInAid level franchises the scheduling & financial flexibility to keep this ncaa level of 🏈 off of life support.
I like “the grading curve” in this 🏈 Division.
11 leagues have 1 or more bids to The 24 Berth CFP.
2 leagues elect to have 1 post season Championship Game.
All 13 leagues play some O.O.C. Matches versus each other.
Do u remember Saint Francis Uni. Red Flash of Loretto, PA moving to ncaa Division 3 after the 2024 Season?
There’s zero incentive for the Ivy League to drop down to DivII (you realize that the Ivy League plays sports other than football, yes?) and the NCAA can’t force them so long as they meet attendance minimums.
Never gonna drop to Division 2
There’s no need to
@Herrt,
Your numbers are way off dude.
The MEAC and the SWAC are able to accept at large bids as well and I believe both conference champions (MEAC for sure and this would include an appearance in the SWAC championship being forfeited) are able to forego their “bowl game” and participate in the FCS playoffs by accepting an automatic bid. Florida A&M took and at large bid just a few years back actually.
The only “by law” requirement for the FCS is you must have six D-I wins to receive and at large bid. There is no required number of games.
If the Ivy league wants to play 10 games, they should be able to play 10, they have been doing it since before all this began. The committee at selection time, if the need arises, can argue if a 7-3 Ivy team deserves to receive an at large bid over an 8-4 team because that is their job. I don’t see many cases where that would actually happen, but what is wrong with an 8-2 team getting in.
Wasn’t it Northern Iowa that got in a few years back at 6-5 because they play in the MVFC? Nobody had a problem with that for the most part and it isn’t often that the last couple of teams in have any impact on the playoffs.
The Ivy League making a logistical error in their press release is EXTREMELY funny.
Harvard and Princeton playing one another in early September is just wrong. Years ago, the league moved all Week 1 matchups to Week 8 so teams could open with an OOC game. They should just move those games back to the beginning. Or better yet, move to an 11 game schedule since they participate in the FCS playoffs now.
This will probably just be for 2027 to give the schools time to schedule or alter previously contracted non-conference games.
??? Why is it “wrong”? It’s not like it’s Harvard-Yale (or Yale-Princeton) or that more than a handful of people will care. . . .
Richard,
Serious question. Why do you always jump down someone’s throat if they post something you disagree with? My opinion is that a game between two of the three flagship IL programs that has been played in the latter part of the schedule since 1877 should remain so. Fine, you disagree. It seems every time someone makes an innocuous opinion on this site, you not only feel the need to disagree, but do it such a dickish manner. Fine, you don’t care that the Ivy League is moving a prime historical matchup off of its traditional late October date. Some of us do, or at least I do. It was lazy scheduling by the IL. Have Harvard open with Columbia and Princeton open with Cornell as was the case for decades.
Gerry, how many Harvard-Princeton games in the past decade have you watched?
I just wonder if there are a bunch of retired folks on here who have too much time and too little going on in their life to constantly criticize stuff that doesn’t even affect them in any way.
To me, constantly criticizing things that don’t even affect you is just weird-ass behavior.
The one I thing I want the Ivy League to do is put Harvard-Yale on Friday night and air it on ABC, which has not televised that rivalry since 1980.
Z-Man ABC can do Harvard-Yale & keep in mind both Harvard & Yale just like Michigan-Ohio State wants to keep its traditional noon kickoff.
ABC is not a fan of pre-empting regular scheduled programs on prime-time Friday plus people in Boston & New Haven have other activities they want to do on Friday evening.
Harvard-Yale is at 3:30 this year.
Z-Man: ABC and other broadcasters aren’t in the charity business.
That seems to be something you don’t understand about, well, a lot, frankly. Taking some econ/business classes would do you some good!
“Bye weeks! Bronco Nagurski didn’t get no bye weeks.
And now he’s dead!”
It’s about time. Read Feinstein’s book, The Ancient Eight. The kids love playing Ivy football but most want a bye during the season…. it’s in the book.
I’m glad they’re moving up to the second Friday/Saturday in September. Get things going. It’s good for the sport.