The Ivy League will jump on the college football playoffs bandwagon next year, league executive director Robin Harris announced on Wednesday.
Ivy League schools compete in the FCS, which has long fielded a playoff format before the arrival of the 12-team College Football Playoff in the FBS this year. Despite longtime membership in the FCS, Ivy League schools have skipped the postseason until student athletes from the league’s student-athlete advisory committee (SAAC) called for it.
“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,” he continued.
The Ivy League has quality football programs at the FCS level, which include league co-champions Harvard (8–2), Dartmouth (8–2), and Columbia (7–3) as all three finished 5–2 in league play. Yale (7–3) boasts the seventh all-time winningest college football program in all of Division I.
Unlike the FBS, the FCS has double the playoff teams with 24 as all conference champions make the field plus 14 at-large bids. The tournament starts during Thanksgiving weekend and culminates with the championship game in early January. Nashville, Tennessee, will host the 2026 and 2027 games after a longstanding partnership with Frisco, Texas. Both semifinal games and the championship game will appear on national TV as were three of the four quarterfinal games last weekend.
“It’s a monumental day in the Ivy League and a special day to be an Ivy League student-athlete,” SAAC Chair and Yale football player Mason Shipp said in a statement. “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!”
Similar to the FBS, the FCS offers stiff competition with power conferences such as the Missouri Valley Conference, the FCS equivalent of the mighty SEC. Three of the four semifinalists to play this weekend hail from that league: North Dakota State, South Dakota State, and South Dakota.
This year, the Missouri Valley fielded four teams overall as did the Coastal Athletic Association. The Big Sky Conference had the most with five, including semifinalist Montana State, and the Ohio Valley/Big South Conference and ASUN/WAC Conference each had three entrants.
Ivy League teams can win against playoff teams, which showed in nonconference play this season. Yale beat Patriot League champion Lehigh 38–23, Harvard beat New Hampshire 28–23, and Dartmouth beat Northeast Conference champion Central Connecticut 20–16.
Postseason competition isn’t new to the Ivy League as the conference has long fielded teams in tournaments for all other NCAA-sanctioned sports. In addition, the Ivy League has produced NFL talent over the years.
