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.

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.

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.