Welcome back, oh great and wonderful college football fans. I know it’s only May, but the GCR preseason has already begun. Last time we talked about the conference realignment (just the 5 teams) this season and today we begin our trek through the 25 conferences (including the independents) from easiest to most difficult. As a reminder, the GCR does not provide overall preseason ranking because each team is 0-0 and tied for first (or last, if you tend pessimistic). We do rank the schedules of all 264 teams for entertainment purposes, or at least we hope.
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A note: last season, we changed up the decade+ old formula (with untold revisions over the years) for a simplified, and we hope, more accurate version. We debated using the preseason formula (and basis in previous years) for strength of schedule (SOS) that we’ve “always” used or using the new SOS that will be in use this season (and was last year in the test version). At the end of the day, we chose to let the old way have its last hurrah. Next year, the approach will be different, and the numbers may be on a different scale (not sure yet, still testing), but the preseason countdown will still be around. The old SOS started with the base of opponents’ win totals, adjusted for location. Away games were given a bonus and neutral site games were given a lesser bonus. Discounts and rewards were provided for playing below or above “your” designation (e.g., a Core 4 team playing an FCS team would give a discount to the Core 4 team and a reward to the FCS team). The actual SOS also took into account a team’s opponents’ opponents’ SOS with a few other calculations, and, of course, only considered games played “this” season. The preseason just keeps it simple using last year’s win totals for this year’s schedule disregarding opponents’ opponents.
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One conference has a decided disadvantage because they only play 10 games per season and never play in the postseason. Of course, I’m talking about the Ivy League whose 8 members actually had a really good combined non-conference record at 16-8 (.667). But with the best FCS teams playing 15 or 16 games with the playoffs and the “old” method just using just adjusted win averages, there are limited numbers available to the storied conference. Add that the FCS schools are moving toward 12-game schedules (many do this year), and the difference will just become bigger. At the same time, no Ivy League team plays any FBS (Group of 5 or Core 4 or Notre Dame) team. Next year, we’ll see how it turns out for them.
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In the table below, non-conference games (all against FCS opponents) are indicated using (F). The parenthetical value in the 2024 Record column is the “old” approach (official one used last season) ranking out of 263 teams. The 2025 PS SOS numbers are the average adjusted win totals (after all rewards and discounts) and the (rank) out of the 264 Division I (FBS and FCS) teams. Welcome back and the GCR proudly presents the 2025 Ivy League (25th out of 25).
| Team | Home | 2024 Record (Rank) | 2025 PS SOS (Rank) | Home Games | Away Games |
| Princeton Tigers (1) | Princeton, NJ | 3-7 (238) | 3.55 (227) | San Diego (F), Columbia, Mercer (F), Harvard, Yale | Lafayette (F), Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Penn |
| Brown Bears (2) | Providence, RI | 3-7 (254) | 3.30 (237) | Georgetown (F), Rhode Island (F), Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth | Harvard, Bryant (F), Cornell, Penn, Columbia |
| Dartmouth Big Green (3) | Hanovwe, NH | 8-2 (149) | 3.20 (244) | New Hampshire (F), Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Cornell | C Connecticut (F), Penn, Fordham (F), Harvard, Brown |
| Columbia Lions (4) | New York, NY | 7-3 (162) | 3.18 (246) | Georgetown (F), Lehigh (F), Penn, Harvard, Brown | Lafayette (F), Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale, Cornell |
| Penn Quakers (5) | Philadelphia, PA | 4-6 (223) | 3.10 (249) | Darmouth, Marist (F), Brown, Cornell, Princeton | Stonehill (F), Lehigh (F), Columbia, Yale, Harvard |
| Cornell Big Red (6) | Ithaca, NY | 4-6 (236) | 3.08 (251) | Colgate (F), Bucknell (F), Brown, Princeton, Columbia | Albany (F), Yale, Harvard, Penn, Dartmouth |
| Yale Bulldogs (7) | New Haven, CT | 7-3 (164) | 2.88 (257) | Holy Cross (F), Cornell (F), Stonehill (F), Penn, Columbia, Harvard | Lehigh (F), Dartmouth, Brown, Princeton |
| Harvard Crimson (8) | Boston, MA | 8-2 (145) | 2.83 (258) | Brown, Cornell, Merrimack (F), Dartmouth, Penn | Stetson (F), Holy Cross (F), Princeton, Columbia, Yale |
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And that’s it for today. Thank you for reading and please continue to share with others. Send comments or review previous posts at Facebook or at http://bit.ly/2019GCR (named for the year I started the blog after years of just sending emails – JoJo is rolling her eyes and calling me “old” right about now). See you in a few days with number 24, G.
