Pick Zero...How many Ivy League teams make the playoffs?

[dgtw]

And will they ever lower themselves to joining the playoffs?

Seriously though, who wins the Ivy?

[NY Crusader 2010]

My hunch is that Penn wins the league this year. If anyone has had Harvard's number during the Murphy era, it's the Quakers.

Ivy League "lowering themselves" to playoff participation about as likely to happen as NDSU lowering itself back to Division II.

[Son of Eli]

The only thing that is constant is change. IMO The Ivy League will eventually choose to participate in the FCS playoffs, or some other form of football post season play.

[Laker]

The only thing that is constant is change. IMO The Ivy League will eventually choose to participate in the FCS playoffs, or some other form of football post season play.

Way overdue. How does the administration defend that when they are in the playoffs for everything else?

[Son of Eli]

Way overdue. How does the administration defend that when they are in the playoffs for everything else?

Supposed reasons are:

1) don't want to ruin the tradition of ending the season with the Yale-Harvard game
2) playoffs will interfere with finals.

Both arguments are very weak and are easily refuted.

[Sader87]

Playoffs are ovah-rated....I back the Ancient VIII on this.

[Son of Eli]

Playoffs are ovah-rated....I back the Ancient VIII on this.


When is the last time Holy Cross made it?

[Redbird007]

I believe the Ivies will be in the playoffs sometime during the next ten years. Times a changing (big sports dollars) as you can see by how Harvard is putting more into sports. I believe there are easily obtained dollars if the Ivies put some additional emphasis on sports which includes entering football playoffs or as stated above some form of post season play. I am not talking about a P5 dirty sports approach. Look at what is going on with Harvard basketball...they have 3 top 100 ESPN commits coming soon.

[RichH2]

Perhaps they will. Feel sorry for the generation of players denied the chance.
Otherwise, no longer care.

[Son of Eli]

The more feasible post season option, at least from the Ivy League's perspective, would be a bowl game between the Ivy Champion and Patriot League Champion.

http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/12970

http://www.nhregister.com/article/NH/20151205/SPORTS/151209712


From the above article:

"Those hoping that the Ivies partake in the FCS playoffs shouldn’t hold their breath, but a bowl game does seem to have a chance. In his December 5, 2015 column, Chip Malafronte of The New Haven Register quoted Yale athletic director Tom Beckett as saying that a “bowl game is more feasible than the FCS playoffs.” The playoffs would take athletes away from the reading period, final exams and of course, the semester break and should an Ivy League team go an a playoff run, it could be seven more weeks of practicing and playing."


Such an Ivy-Patriot Bowl game could be played at Yankee Stadium or in Orlando over winter break. It would be a much better money maker than the FCS playoffs. It would be nationally televised, have corporate sponsors and have much better attendance than the typical FCS playoff game. But would the Patriot League be interested given their recent success in the playoffs? The time for an Ivy-Patriot Bowl may come only if there is a realignment of Division I that ends the FCS as we know it.

[1984]

With the Ivy's choosing not to participate in the championship playoff system they are not really part of or playing FCS football. They are in their own little world pretending to be FCS. I am not saying they are bad football teams. they are just not true FCS teams because they choose not to compete.

[Fox 94]

Silly statement.

[ST_Lawson]

Supposed reasons are:

1) don't want to ruin the tradition of ending the season with the Yale-Harvard game
2) playoffs will interfere with finals.

Both arguments are very weak and are easily refuted.

Right, with regards to #1, the conference could easily just designate the last game of the regular season as "rivalry week" and say that that weekend is the same "set" of games every year.
I don't know what all the rivalries are in the Ivy League other than "The Game"...but something like:
Havard vs Yale
Dartmouth vs Princeton
Columbia vs Cornell
Brown vs Penn

And just do that the last regular season game of each year, and have the rest of the conference schedule "rotate".

[Lehigh Football Nation]

I pick

[dgtw]

I don't see an Ivy-Patriot bowl game attracting a lot of attention. The Celebration Bowl did last year but that is directed at a demographic with a long history of gathering for "classic" HBCU games and could be marketed on TV as such. The Ivy just doesn't have that type of following.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

I don't see an Ivy-Patriot bowl game attracting a lot of attention. The Celebration Bowl did last year but that is directed at a demographic with a long history of gathering for "classic" HBCU games and could be marketed on TV as such. The Ivy just doesn't have that type of following.

They do, but they keep dying off every year.

[Son of Eli]

I don't see an Ivy-Patriot bowl game attracting a lot of attention. The Celebration Bowl did last year but that is directed at a demographic with a long history of gathering for "classic" HBCU games and could be marketed on TV as such. The Ivy just doesn't have that type of following.



I think both the Patriot League and the Ivy League have strong drawing power. In 2014 the Lehigh-Lafayette game at Yankee stadium drew around 48,000. The Yale-Harvard game consistently draws over 50,000 when played at the Yale Bowl and sells out at Harvard. Plus the brand of the Ivy League is very strong. Lots of corporations would like to have their name associated with such a bowl and would promote it.

An Ivy-Patriot Bowl would be even better if Army would join the Patriot League in football, which may happen someday. The Yale- Army game at the Yale Bowl in 2014 drew over 34,000.

[crusader11]

Supposed reasons are:
2) playoffs will interfere with finals.

Both arguments are very weak and are easily refuted.

I mean, just start the season the same week as everyone else, rather than in mid-September. What's the IL's stance on having their Week One so late, by the way?

[Son of Eli]

They do, but they keep dying off every year.

That's why a perfect venue for an Ivy-Patriot game would be Florida.

[Son of Eli]

I mean, just start the season the same week as everyone else, rather than in mid-September. What's the IL's stance on having their Week One so late, by the way?


I think the issue there is the late start to the school year by Princeton.

[DFW HOYA]

I don't see it. Then again, the day Georgetown gets to the playoffs is the day the Patriot League drops the ban on redshirts and mandates 63 scholarships.

[Ivytalk]

My hunch is that Penn wins the league this year. If anyone has had Harvard's number during the Murphy era, it's the Quakers.

I fear you are correct, and nobody on this Board dislikes Penn more than I do.xsmhx

[Thumper 76]

I don't see it. Then again, the day Georgetown gets to the playoffs is the day the Patriot League drops the ban on redshirts and mandates 63 scholarships.

If that happens does Georgetown even stay in the PL?

[Bill]

Can I pick Columbia to win the league this year...and can I get English PL Leicester City odds for it xdrunkyx ?

[RichH2]

I fear you are correct, and nobody on this Board dislikes Penn more than I do.xsmhx

No not just you. Ihave hated them since 1964.

[TheValleyRaider]

Right, with regards to #1, the conference could easily just designate the last game of the regular season as "rivalry week" and say that that weekend is the same "set" of games every year.
I don't know what all the rivalries are in the Ivy League other than "The Game"...but something like:
Havard vs Yale
Dartmouth vs Princeton
Columbia vs Cornell
Brown vs Penn

And just do that the last regular season game of each year, and have the rest of the conference schedule "rotate".

You're pretty close. The last two are Columbia-Brown and Cornell-Penn, and they all play on the last weekend. Harvard-Yale gets all the press, but as I understand it Dartmouth-Princeton and Cornell-Penn are both popular with their respective fan bases. Cornell-Penn even has a trophy to go with it. And really the entire conference schedule is the same every. single. year.

[bonarae]

Uh oh. Another Ivy criticism thread to start another season.

IMHO some recruits who should've been in the Ivies end up walking on to FBS or play/have played in the D-III / NAIA levels. The non-playoff stance of the Presidents in Ivy football has affected some recruits who were planning to get a high-quality academic education.

Meanwhile, the Ivy coaches are either softening their OOC schedules (see Murphy) or are using it as a "wait and see" approach to have the Presidents decide on playoff participation. I am already getting tired of the Ivies still not getting their call to participate in the Road to Frisco.

(Disclaimer: I have attempted to sign up at a D-III forum but the admins there are quite strict on who gets past the signup form. That's why I'm still here.)

[ST_Lawson]

You're pretty close. The last two are Columbia-Brown and Cornell-Penn, and they all play on the last weekend. Harvard-Yale gets all the press, but as I understand it Dartmouth-Princeton and Cornell-Penn are both popular with their respective fan bases. Cornell-Penn even has a trophy to go with it. And really the entire conference schedule is the same every. single. year.

Cool...it's too bad they can't just shift the schedule so that they play those last rivalry games in the last regular season weekend, then send their best team or two to the playoffs.

I have a great amount of respect for the history of the Ivy League and there's some good football being played there. I'd love to see something like Harvard vs W&M or Dartmouth vs Richmond early in the playoffs. Lots of history in those schools.

[bonarae]

Cool...it's too bad they can't just shift the schedule so that they play those last rivalry games in the last regular season weekend, then send their best team or two to the playoffs.

I have a great amount of respect for the history of the Ivy League and there's some good football being played there. I'd love to see something like Harvard vs W&M or Dartmouth vs Richmond early in the playoffs. Lots of history in those schools.

FYI, they haven't changed the schedule pattern since the 2000 season. It's long overdue for a shake-up.

[Son of Eli]

FYI, they haven't changed the schedule pattern since the 2000 season. It's long overdue for a shake-up.


The end of season "rivalry week" is already in place and has been recently changed to be more significant. Starting in 2018 it will be as follows:

Yale vs Harvard
Princeton vs Penn
Brown vs Dartmouth
Columbia vs Cornell.

[Go Green]

The only thing that is constant is change. IMO The Ivy League will eventually choose to participate in the FCS playoffs, or some other form of football post season play.

All eyes on Harvard. If they want to play post-season football, it will happen.

[Go Green]

Supposed reasons are:

1) don't want to ruin the tradition of ending the season with the Yale-Harvard game
2) playoffs will interfere with finals.


Reasons have evolved over time.

But those are pretty close to the "current" reasons (to the extent any exist).

[Go Green]

I think the issue there is the late start to the school year by Princeton.

Dartmouth starts late as well. But I doubt the late start is to accommodate us. :)

Last year, we actually petitioned the league to play the finale against Princeton a week later because our finals began early for whatever reason. The petition was denied. :)

Kind of a shame, because it depressed attendance for that game--hardly any students showed on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon when we clinched a share of the title.

[Go Green]

Cornell-Penn even has a trophy to go with it.

Dartmouth-Princeton is so intense that we have TWO trophies for that game.

Coach Teevens is holding both the Sawhorse Dollar and the Governor's Cup.

http://www.dartmouthsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=11600&ATCLID=209778810

[Go Green]

The end of season "rivalry week" is already in place and has been recently changed to be more significant. Starting in 2018 it will be as follows:

Yale vs Harvard
Princeton vs Penn
Brown vs Dartmouth
Columbia vs Cornell.

The belief among Dartmouth folks was that Princeton's current brass hated coming up to Hanover in mid-November and wanted out.

Really a shame. Dartmouth-Princeton has the most history of any Ivy games that don't involve Harvard or Yale. "Great Moments in Penn-Princeton Football History" would be a very short book. Heck of a basketball rivalry, though.

[Son of Eli]

The belief among Dartmouth folks was that Princeton's current brass hated coming up to Hanover in mid-November and wanted out.

Really a shame. Dartmouth-Princeton has the most history of any Ivy games that don't involve Harvard or Yale. "Great Moments in Penn-Princeton Football History" would be a very short book. Heck of a basketball rivalry, though.


How about this moment?


http://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/07/sports/college-football-penn-lot-mightier-than-princeton-11-stokes-stands.html

[Go Green]

How about this moment?


http://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/07/sports/college-football-penn-lot-mightier-than-princeton-11-stokes-stands.html

Definitely the high water mark of the Penn-Princeton football "rivalry." A pissing match over admissions and academics. :)

I should also clarify my earlier remark that Penn probably wanted out of its season finale against Cornell for pretty much the same reasons Princeton wanted out of Dartmouth. They didn't like going to Ithaca in mid-November either.

[bulldog10jw]

They didn't like going to Ithaca in mid-November.

Who does?

[bulldog10jw]

Can I pick Columbia to win the league this year...and can I get English PL Leicester City odds for it xdrunkyx ?

Yes, and probably.

[Herder]

Supposed reasons are:

1) don't want to ruin the tradition of ending the season with the Yale-Harvard game
2) playoffs will interfere with finals.

Both arguments are very weak and are easily refuted.

And if I'm a Michigan State, I want to end my season with the traditional Michigan/Ohio State game? Are there not 8 teams in the Ivy?

[Go Green]

And if I'm a Michigan State, I want to end my season with the traditional Michigan/Ohio State game? Are there not 8 teams in the Ivy?

As is the case in most leagues, some Ivies drive the bus more than others. :)

[Go...gate]

The belief among Dartmouth folks was that Princeton's current brass hated coming up to Hanover in mid-November and wanted out.

Really a shame. Dartmouth-Princeton has the most history of any Ivy games that don't involve Harvard or Yale. "Great Moments in Penn-Princeton Football History" would be a very short book. Heck of a basketball rivalry, though.

Agreed. Some wonderful games in that series.

[bonarae]

The end of season "rivalry week" is already in place and has been recently changed to be more significant.

Meanwhile, has the scheduling sequence pattern changed to better reflect the national trend of finishing all OOC games before conference play starts? xchinscratchx