The Ivy League will compete in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs in 2025, ending an 80-year-old policy that kept the Ivy League out of the postseason to maintain a focus on academics. The historic change allows Dartmouth and the other Ivy League teams to compete in postseason football for the first time since 1945.
The decision was announced following a vote by the eight Ivy League presidents on Wednesday.
“We knew it was going to be voted on,” Dartmouth football head coach Sammy McCorkle said. “When I received that email, it was unbelievable. It was exciting, and I am so happy for the league.”
According to McCorkle, the effort was spearheaded by the Ivy League’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee — a committee for Ivy League student-athletes that weighs in on sports-related issues and advises on legislation within the Conference — which presented a detailed proposal to the Ivy League’s presidents and athletic directors this past spring. McCorkle said the Committee did a “phenomenal job across the board.”
“That was the thing that I think was able to sell it and promote it and get it passed,” he added.
The Ivy League conference champion will receive an automatic bid into the 24-team playoff. According to a statement from the Ivy League announcing the decision, the conference will work to establish additional rules to determine the bid in the event of co-champions. Dartmouth, Columbia and Harvard shared the Ivy League title in 2024.
According to quarterback Jackson Proctor ’25 — a member of the Committee — formulating tiebreaker rules was a “big conversation” for the committee while drafting the proposal in the winter of 2024.
“It’s going to be based on tiebreaker rules and would be head-to-head primarily,” he said. Hypothetically, “Harvard this year [would] get an auto bid because they won the tiebreaker” by defeating Dartmouth at the Big Green’s Homecoming as well as Columbia. Dartmouth shared the Ivy League Title with Harvard and Columbia after Harvard lost their last game of the season to Yale.
Ivy League teams could receive at-large bids if selected by the Division I Football Championship Committee. The factors that determine at-large bids, according to Proctor, have still not been determined.
The news acknowledges the growing competitiveness of the league in recent years, which has posted a collective 119-49 (.708) record in non-conference play since 2017, according to the announcement.
“I think this will make the league finally get the respect it deserves considering how competitive and elite it truly is,” Owen Zalc ’27, Dartmouth’s starting kicker this past season and a member of the 2024-25 SAAC, said. “I expect voting committees will have more respect when it comes to ranking Ivy League schools now more than ever.”
Co-Ivy League champion Harvard peaked at 21st in the FCS coaches poll, while co-champion Dartmouth was ranked as high as 22. Co-champion Columbia also received votes over many weeks but was never ranked.
The move also reignites interest in the Ivy League as a recruiting destination.
“We’re already getting reactions from recruits across the board about how this is awesome,” McCorkle said. “This just gives us an ability and opportunity to be able to showcase the talent level of this league.”
Players at Dartmouth are also excited, according to Zalc.
“Our team group chat was active right after the news came out,” he said. “We were all really excited about the increased importance of every single game, especially out-of-conference games. This just makes us all even more determined and stoked to compete every week.”
With the plan approved, coaches and athletic directors will now work over the coming months to iron out the details of the move, which includes creating tiebreakers. Nevertheless, this news marks an exciting time to be a fan of Ivy League Football.
