Football playoffs: "Nothing imminent"

Perhaps the most interesting part of the question and answer session between Yale football coach Tom Williams, Southern Connecticut's Rich Cavanaugh and Peter Rossomando of New Haven and the fans at Hula Hanks in New Haven Wednesday for the "Chalk Talk" event was Williams' take on the potential of postseason football play in the Ivy League.

After mentioning that adding an 11th game to the schedule or having a postseason bowl game, I felt it was important to address the issue. So I spoke to Yale's director of athletics Tom Beckett on Thursday morning and the first words out of his mouth when I brought up the subject were "nothing's imminent."

My story on the subject ran in today's edition of the Register.

Here's my take on the matter. I see no way the Ivy League presidents will go for permitting Ivy teams to play in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. That would be potentially five weeks of practice and games. While a one-game addition is a nice compromise, it is also probably a long shot.

There's no question that Beckett and Williams would love to see it happen but Yale president Richard Levin has historically been in favor of status quo when it comes to this issue and I'd be surprised if that changed any time in the near future.