Amidst a sea of collegiate athletic change, the Ivy League had one policy that was the most resistant to the raging waters. However, that longstanding Ivy League policy has finally fallen: the winner of the 2025 regular season championship will play in the FCS Playoffs for the first time in conference history in a move first reported by ESPN’s Pete Thamel. The Ivy League had maintained the postseason football abstention policy since the 1940s and reaffirmed it the following decade.
It was reported in November that the Ivy League was reconsidering its stance on abstaining from the FCS Playoffs. The proposal originated from the Ivy League Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) but needed to be discussed by the athletic directors, the Policy Committee, and voted upon by the 8 Ivy League university presidents. On Tuesday, December 17, the last hurdle was cleared as the Presidents agreed to the policy change.
The Ivy League comprises Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, and Yale with a 10-game schedule and round-robin conference format. The most recent Ivy League team to participate in a postseason contest was Columbia in the 1934 Rose Bowl against Stanford. The Lions won 7-0 with Al Barabas scoring the lone touchdown.
The Ivy League competing in the 2025 FCS Playoffs is not the only change happening. The National Championship game following the 2025 season will be played in Nashville, Tennessee for the first time. With the Ivy League in the mix, the number of automatic qualifying bids (AQ) will increase to 11 while the at-large bids will decrease to 13.
Photo Credit to Columbia University Athletics