The Ivy League will consider a proposal to end its moratorium on postseason competition in football and allow its team(s) to compete in the FCS playoffs, the Harvard Crimson reported Friday.
Ivy League presidents signed the Ivy Group Agreement in 1945, prohibiting postseason play and athletic scholarships, among other things, in football. The self-imposed ban was expanded to all sports in 1954 but later lifted. As of 2018-19, the Ivy League had won 292 team and 556 individual national championships.
The proposal originated out of the Ivy League Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and still requires approval from all eight Ivy League presidents. If approved, it's not clear when Ivy teams would join the FCS playoffs.
If approved, the Ivy League joining the FCS playoffs would have downstream effects for the rest of the nation. Ten of the 13 FCS conferences send their champion to the playoffs, and bumping that number to 11 would reduce the pool of at-large bids to 13. The MEAC and SWAC send their champions to the Celebration Bowl to compete for the HBCU national championship.
Dartmouth is currently ranked No. 22 in the STATS FCS Top 25, while 5-1 Harvard is third among teams receiving votes.
Incidentally, the Big Green and the Crimson play Saturday at Dartmouth, and the winner will likely become the Ivy's 2024 champion. Either way, the winner and the loser's season will end Nov. 23. But perhaps not for much longer.