FCS CONFERENCE · 2025 SEASON

Ivy

#25 overall#14 in FCSRR50 +7.7Upper strength +9.68 teamsTop 25 teams 0

THE LONG WAIT · 2025

The Game

The Ivy League does not offer athletic scholarships and does not participate in the FCS playoff. It runs an eight-game round-robin and crowns a conference champion, then stops. Harvard and Yale have played every year since 1875 — The Game is the oldest continuous rivalry in college football. Princeton won the 2024 Ivy title. The conference's identity is entirely internal: the season exists to play each other, not to qualify for anything outside the league. It is the oldest model in college football and the only one that has never changed.

Yale and Harvard both had winning Ivy seasons in 2025. Does Princeton defend the title, or does the conference's depth — eight programs with genuine academic and athletic investment — produce a different champion each of the next four years?

FCS8 teamsRace: FCS Playoff

Ivy · 2026 Season Preview

Three Things to Watch

The GameHarvard-Yale: The Game Above All Games

Harvard and Yale have played every year since 1875. The Game, as it is simply called, has been played through two World Wars, through academic calendar changes, through everything. It is the oldest continuous rivalry in American college football and the only game where the result determines conference bragging rights for an entire year in a league that does not go to a playoff. The 2026 edition will be the 153rd meeting.

The ChampionPrinceton's Run Under Bob Surace

Princeton won the 2024 Ivy League title under Bob Surace, who has built the program into the conference's most consistent winner over the last decade. They recruit students who could play at a lower-level FCS program but choose Princeton — and then develop them into Ivy champions. Surace's offense is one of the most sophisticated in any non-scholarship league in the country.

Wild CardPenn and Columbia: Programs with Something to Prove

Yale has the most FCS-level roster talent in the Ivy League in most years and has converted it into conference titles less often than expected. Penn has the recruiting advantage of Philadelphia. Columbia won the Ivy in 2023 for the first time in decades. The Ivy's competitive balance makes every October Saturday a potential upset — which is exactly what an 8-game round-robin with no playoff produces.

Conference Standings · Ivy · 2025

Standings

#	Team	Conf	Overall	Pwr
1	Harvard	6–1	9–2	+9.5
2	Yale	6–1	9–3	+9.7
3	Dartmouth	4–3	7–3	+7.9
4	Pennsylvania	4–3	6–4	+5.9
5	Cornell	3–4	4–6	+6.3
6	Brown	2–5	5–5	+6.3
7	Princeton	2–5	3–7	+6.3
8	Columbia	1–6	2–8	+5.1

Conference record determines standing. Power = neutral-field pts vs. all-level average. Last 5 = most recent game results.

Projected Standings · Ivy · 2025

Win Projection

Odds of winning at least N conference games from current power ratings — full slate played out, not locked to results. AVG = expected wins; W–L = most-likely record.

#	Team	W–L	PWR	AVG	≥7	≥6	≥5	≥4	≥3	≥2	≥1
Favorites
1	Yale	4–3	+2.6	4.0	2	13	37	66	88	97	✓
2	Harvard	4–3	+2.4	4.0	2	12	36	65	88	97	✓
Challengers
3	Dartmouth	4–3	+0.8	3.7	1	8	27	56	82	96	✓
4	Cornell	3–4	-0.8	3.3		4	18	43	73	92	99
The Field
5	Brown	3–4	-0.8	3.3		4	18	43	72	92	99
6	Princeton	3–4	-0.8	3.3		4	18	43	72	92	99
Rebuilding
7	Pennsylvania	3–4	-1.2	3.3		5	19	45	74	92	99
8	Columbia	3–4	-2.0	3.1		3	14	37	66	89	98

Conference Power · FCS

Where We Stand

#	Conference	Avg Power	vs Focal	Top Team
1	MVFC	+10.2	1–0	North Dakota State
2	Big Sky	+9.6	0–1	Montana State
3	MEAC	+9.4	—	South Carolina State
4	UAC	+9.3	—	Tarleton State
5	SWAC	+9.1	—	Alabama State
6	Southland	+9.1	—	Stephen F. Austin
7	CAA	+8.9	3–2	Villanova
8	Patriot	+8.7	7–5	Lehigh
9	Big South-OVC	+8.6	—	Tennessee Tech
10	Pioneer	+8.5	2–1	Presbyterian
11	Southern	+8.4	0–1	Mercer
12	NEC	+8.2	3–0	Central Connecticut
13	IvyYou are here	+7.7	—	Yale

Round-robin power = strength of schedule-adjusted conference average, points vs. all-level average team. Record = Ivy's record vs. that conference across all games this season.

Ivy reads like a weekly gauntlet. The middle of the league is strong enough that contenders do not get many breathers.

Conference Snapshot

RR50+7.7

Upper Strength+9.6

Median Power+7.2

Resume Pulse57.7

Avg ATS50.0%

Wins vs Market+0.23

Top-to-Middle Gap3.4

Combined Record45-38

League Drivers

Power leader Yale #175 overall | +9.7 pts vs avg Resume leader Harvard #181 overall | 91 / 100 resume ATS leader Brown 70.0% cover rate Beat expectation Yale +1.82 wins vs market

Ivy Team Board

The league stack, sorted by predictive strength. Power is shown as neutral-field points versus the all-level average team, while resume is shown on a 0-100 season score.

Rank	Team	Record	Power	Resume	ATS	Wins vs Market	Recent Form
#175	Yale	9-3	+9.7	89	6-5	+1.82	3-1 over the last 4 (W12 W13 W14 L15)
#181	Harvard	9-2	+9.5	91	5-6	-0.48	2-2 over the last 4 (W11 W12 L13 L14)
#212	Dartmouth	7-3	+7.9	71	3-6	+0.65	2-2 over the last 4 (L10 W11 W12 L13)
#233	Cornell	4-6	+6.3	32	6-3	+0.13	2-2 over the last 4 (W10 W11 L12 L13)
#234	Princeton	3-7	+6.3	49	5-5	-0.90	0-4 over the last 4 (L10 L11 L12 L13)
#235	Brown	5-5	+6.3	38	7-3	+1.27	2-2 over the last 4 (L10 L11 W12 W13)
#243	Pennsylvania	6-4	+5.9	61	5-5	+0.40	2-2 over the last 4 (W10 L11 L12 W13)
#253	Columbia	2-8	+5.1	29	3-7	-1.06	1-3 over the last 4 (L10 L11 L12 W13)