Bob Surace had the No. 9-ranked football team in the FCS and had just completed an undefeated regular season. He should have been preparing his Princeton Tigers for a playoff game — one they almost certainly would have been favored to win — but that wasn’t possible because the Ivy League did not allow its football champion to compete for a national title. Not by any mandate or decree set out by the NCAA. The FCS would have happily welcomed the Ivy League champion into the fold, but simply because the Ivies chose to be irrelevant outside of their own bubble. Surace laid down a challenge to administrators then. “Our president is all about excellence. If you look at how we increased social-economic diversity and all those things, it’s about opportunity,” Surace said at the time. “These guys should be on cloud-nine getting ready to play somebody and all we’ve got is the transitive property. … That’s not football, you got to play the game. A game is you got to go up against them and do it on the field.” That was six years ago. It feels like forever given everything the world has gone through since, but that same question has been dangled out there every season since (and probably for many years prior). It always made you think of the famous Jim Mora Sr. quote from when he was coaching the Indianapolis Colts: “Playoffs!?!. Don’t talk about — playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs!?!” It’s all finally changing. Yes, you heard that right. Starting with the 2025 season, the Ivy League champion will take part in the FCS playoffs. “The Ivy League prides itself on a storied tradition of impact, influence and competitive success throughout the history of college football. We now look ahead to a new chapter of success and to further enhancing the student-athlete experience with our participation in the NCAA FCS playoffs,” Executive Director Robin Harris said in a statement making the announcement. This was a long time coming. It began with a proposal from the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee that kicked off a year-long process that required the approval of all eight university presidents to end a ban on Ivy League schools in the playoffs that has stood since 1945. This ends 79 years of pent-up frustration that often included football coaches seemingly banging their heads against the wall as they lobbied for inclusion. Surace once famously said the Cornell president thought the playoffs meant going up against Alabama. “I am thrilled the Ivy League will be participating in the FCS playoffs,” Surace said on Wednesday. “I am most excited for the players that get the opportunity to enhance what is already an incredible experience in a historic league. I know our players and coaches will continue to put all of our effort into doing everything possible to represent one of the most competitive leagues in college football.” Princeton coach Bob Surace grimaces on the sideline during an Ivy League football game against Cornell at Powers Field at Princeton Stadium. Surace is among the many coaches who have lobbied for inclusion in the FCS playoffs. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Football had long been the lone sport unable to compete for a national championship even as the Ivy League showed a willingness to, albeit slowly, buck from antiquated tradition. The four-team tournament in men’s and women’s basketball to determine the NCAA auto qualifier has been a rousing success (Princeton doesn’t make that Sweet 16 two years ago without it). An extra week of football — maybe a few more if you have a really good team — is a net positive for the universities. The student-athletes want to play. The coaches want to play. The old “it interferes with the academics” simply doesn’t fly in today’s inter-connected world. This fall’s season ended with a three-way tie for first between Columbia, Dartmouth and Harvard, and the league still has to work through tie-breaker scenarios to determine who will be its representative in the case of something like that. “It’s a monumental day in the Ivy League and a special day to be an Ivy League student-athlete,” said Mason Shipp, a senior wide receiver from Monroe who serves as the Ivy League SAAC chair and penned the proposal. “Thank you to the Presidents for listening and responding to the voices of your students. For the future generations that are fortunate enough to represent the Ivy League in the FCS playoffs, go win us some hardware!” The announcement makes you think of past Tiger standouts like Carun Reid, John Lovett, Jesper Horsted, Stephen Carlson, Andrei Iosivas, Henry Byrd, Tom Johnson, Delan Stallworth and Jeremiah Tyler. Or other former Ivy stars like Ryan Fitzpatrick at Harvard or Marcellus Wiley at Columbia. This was 79 long years in the making. Playoffs!?! It’s about damn time.