Yale Football

Yale Football (the Yale Bulldogs football team) is Yale University Yale UniversityYale University is a research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Its predecessor, the Collegiate School, received a charter in 1701. Trustees chose New Haven in 1716; the institution became Yale College in 1718 and Yale University in 1887. Yale provides undergraduate, graduate and professional education and has 14 undergraduate residential colleges. As of October 2026, its president was Maurie McInnis, who took office in July 2024. In 2026, Yale expanded aid for incoming undergraduates and celebrated its 325th anniversary.Open the full entry’s varsity American football team, which competes in the Ivy League Ivy LeagueThe Ivy League is an intercollegiate athletic conference comprising eight universities in the northeastern United States: Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and Yale University. It was formally established in 1954, with league competition beginning in the 1956–57 academic year. Its athletic framework emphasizes student status, academic standards, and financial aid based on need. The name is also commonly used collectively for the eight member institutions.Open the full entry and plays its home games at the Yale Bowl; in the 2025 season it won the program’s 19th Ivy League championship and the Ivy League’s first victory in the FCS playoffs.

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Key facts

November 21, 1914Opening of the Yale Bowl

The Yale Bowl opened on November 21, 1914, with a game against Harvard Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private research university in Massachusetts, established by the Massachusetts Bay Colony legislature in 1636 and named in 1639 for early benefactor John Harvard. Its principal campuses are in Cambridge and the Allston and Longwood neighborhoods of Boston. It includes Harvard College, graduate and professional schools, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Two governing boards share oversight. Alan M. Garber was president as of October 2026, and the endowment stood at $56.9 billion at the end of fiscal 2025.Open the full entry; Yale Athletics calls it the first football venue with seating completely surrounding the field. Its capacity was 70,869 before alterations in 1994 and 2006 and is currently 61,446. On November 23, 2014, Yale played Harvard there in the stadium’s 600th college football game.⁠[1]

2022Ivy League Championship

According to Yale Athletics, in 2022 the team won its third Ivy League title in five seasons.⁠[2]

November 29, 2025First FCS Playoff Win

Making its first appearance in the FCS playoffs, the team beat Youngstown State 43–42 on the road in the first round; then–head coach Tony Reno said this made Yale the first Ivy League team to win an FCS playoff game.⁠[3]

December 6, 2025End of the 2025 Season

The team lost 21–13 to No. 2 Montana State in the second round of the playoffs, finishing the season 9–3 overall and 6–1 in conference play; Yale Athletics said the season included the program’s 19th Ivy League championship and its 72nd all-time win over Harvard.⁠[4]

February 23, 2026Kevin Cahill Named Head Coach

Yale Athletics named Kevin Cahill the Joel E. Smilow ’54 Head Coach of Yale Football, the 35th head coach in program history; he had previously spent 10 seasons on the staff from 2012 to 2022, serving as associate head coach and offensive coordinator in his last five years. As of October 2026, the Yale Athletics staff directory lists him as head coach.⁠[2][5]

Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts

Yale Football: Official website: https://yalebulldogs.com/sports/football (opens in a new window)⁠[6]

Ivy League: Official website: https://ivyleague.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[6]

X: Official account: https://x.com/YaleFootball (opens in a new window)⁠[6]

Instagram: Official account: https://instagram.com/YaleFootball (opens in a new window)⁠[6]