Ivy League Reportedly Changes Stance On Playoffs For 2025 College Football Season
12/18/2024 09:46 AM
Ivy League football programs will have a chance to extend their seasons in 2025.
The first Ivy Group Agreement, signed in 1945, prohibits members from competing in postseason football play. However, student-athletes championed a proposal to change those long-standing guidelines. The measure reportedly passed.
According to ESPN's Pete Thamel, Ivy League presidents voted to approve the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee's proposal on Tuesday. Ivy League football programs are now eligible to compete in the FCS Division I playoffs starting in 2025.
The Harvard Crimson reported the possibility at the start of November. Concerns about interfering with academic coursework and Ivy League rivalry games factored into the conference's hesitance to change the long-running precedent.
Harvard, Dartmouth, and Columbia shared the Ivy League title this season after each registering a 5-2 conference record. The Crimson are the grouping's only ranked team at No. 25.
Yet 24 teams make the FCS playoffs, double the new FBS expanded format. Ten conference champions each receive an automatic bid, so the Ivy League champion may receive a guaranteed spot in the tournament.
Harvard head coach Andrew Aurich told the student-run newspaper that he'd "absolutely" be in favor of playing in the postseason. He believes the conference "can play at a really high level" nationally.
"If they have [the] opportunity to play for a national championship, I think they would love to do it," Aurich said. "And I would love to coach them in that."
Brown quarterback Jake Wilcox also doesn't think a playoff push would derail student-athletes from completing their academic obligations. Athletes from other Ivy League sports can already compete in postseason play, including March Madness.
"A few more weeks of football isn't really going to affect anyone, especially the way that the athletes, student-athletes in this league, know how to work," he said.
This year's FCS playoff field is down to four teams. North Dakota State and South Dakota State will square off for a chance to face Montana State or South Dakota for the national championship. Both semifinal games take place this Saturday.
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