UC Pushes Football Playoffs

The Undergraduate Council (UC) last night called upon University President Lawrence H. Summers to press the Council of Ivy Group Presidents, the governing body of the Ivy League athletic conference, to end a rule that prevents Harvard’s football squad from playing in the postseason.

This change would allow Crimson football to compete in the 16-team NCAA Division I-AA playoffs, which would extend the season past the Ivies’ limited 10-game regular season, if Harvard qualified.

“If we could very seriously challenge this ban, we could very seriously change the face of athletics at Harvard and across the Ivy League,” said Matthew R. Greenfield ’08, the sponsor of the bill.

“We can never truly know how good we are because we can never play outside of the regular season,” he said.

The resolution cited Harvard football coach Tim Murphy as saying that, of Harvard’s 41 Division I sports, only football is not allowed to go into post-season competition.

“Obviously that isn’t an easy thing to justify,” Murphy told USA Today in 2004.

Greenfield said the current ban makes it more difficult for Harvard players to be drafted by the National Football League, hinders Harvard school spirit, and prevents additional revenue opportunities.

Harvard’s late exam calendar would prevent a conflict between postseason games and fall final exams, according to the resolution.

“I think Harvard being able to participate in the NCAA playoffs would be [a] great thing for the school; it would [let] the rest of the country know how good we really are,” quarterback Liam O’Hagan ’08 wrote in an e-mail.

Greenfield said the next step after passing the resolution is to work within Harvard and through the Council of Ivy Group Presidents to change the current policy.

Greenfield said he was unsure if changes to Harvard’s policy would come in conjunction with changes to the policies of other Ivy League schools, but he said that the UC plans to work with other Ivy League schools to push for the opportunity to play in the postseason.

—Malcom A. Glenn contributed to the reporting of this story.
—Staff writer Brittney L. Moraski can be reached at bmoraski@fas.harvard.edu.