PRINCETON, N.J. – Ivy League football returns Saturday with all eight programs opening their 2026 seasons against non-conference opponents.

The opening-week slate is highlighted by a pair of road tests against nationally recognized Patriot League opponents, as Dartmouth visits No. 7 Lehigh and Cornell travels to Colgate, which is receiving votes in both national polls. No. 19 Yale opens at Holy Cross, while No. 25 Harvard travels to New Hampshire.

• Yale opens the season ranked No. 19 in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 and No. 20 in the AFCA Coaches Poll. Harvard is No. 25 in the Stats Perform poll and receiving votes in the AFCA poll, while Dartmouth is also receiving votes from the coaches.
• The Ivy League has posted a .500-or-better record in Week 1 in 14 of the last 15 seasons. Ivy teams combined to go 5-3 on opening weekend last year.
• The league has ranked among the top three FCS conferences in winning percentage against FCS opponents in each of its last eight seasons of competition. Ivy teams went 17-10 (.630) against FCS competition in 2025, the third-best mark nationally behind the MVFC and Big Sky.
• Last season marked the first postseason appearance by an Ivy League school since 1934 and the first postseason eligibility since 1945. Yale then delivered the league’s first FCS Playoffs win, rallying from 28 points down to beat No. 15 Youngstown State, 43-42.
• Yale was selected as the 2026 preseason favorite, receiving 15 of 16 first-place votes. Harvard was picked second with the remaining first-place vote, followed by Dartmouth in third.
• Yale DB Abu Kamara and Harvard DB Damien Henderson enter the season on the Buck Buchanan Award Watch List, while Yale QB Dante Reno was named to the Walter Payton Award Watch List. 
• Cornell TE Ryder Kurtz and Kamara earned First Team Preseason All-America recognition from Stats Perform, FCS Football Central and Phil Steele.
• Six Ivy standouts were named to the East-West Shrine Bowl 1000: Kurtz, Cornell WR Samuel Musungu, Dartmouth S Harrison Keith, Harvard OL Spencer Doan, Henderson and Kamara.
• For the fourth consecutive year, all eight Ivy League programs are represented among the semifinalists for the William V. Campbell Trophy, presented annually to college football's premier scholar-athlete.
• All eight Ivy League head coaches entered their current positions with previous experience in the league as a player and/or assistant coach. Brown's James Perry, Harvard's Andrew Aurich and Princeton's Bob Surace also played football in the Ivy League.