Following the additions of Richmond, Villanova and William & Mary in the last two years, Patriot League football is poised to have one of the deeper conferences in the FCS and multiple playoff qualifiers regularly.
Long gone are the days when the Patriot League sent its champion to the FCS playoffs with a losing record.
Lafayette first had that dubious honor in 2013 when it earned the automatic bid with a 4-1 league mark but was 5-6 overall at the start of the playoffs. Lehigh then reached the postseason in 2017 with the same 5-6 overall record due to being 0-5 out of league.
You can guess the Patriot League received only one playoff bid in those seasons.
Fast forward to 2026 and the upcoming season is a much more exciting time for the league. While increasing from seven to 10 football members in the last two years, the PL hasn’t just sought out adding any programs to bolster the numbers, it’s added the right teams – bolstering with rivalry and quality academic institutions while not losing geographical continuity of the membership.
The Patriot League’s expansion coupled with the changing landscape of the FCS has raised the league’s stature and positioned it to consistently be in the mix for multiple playoff bids moving forward. Thanks to the addition of Richmond before last season and now Villanova and William & Mary beginning July 1, the conference has added multiple programs from CAA Football with considerable playoff experience. In fact, Richmond (2008) and Villanova (2009) has each won an FCS national championship.
Over the past 10 seasons, Patriot League teams have combined on 11 playoff appearances – Holy Cross and Lehigh with four each, and Lafayette, Fordham and Colgate one apiece. During that same period, the three newcomers have collected 10 playoff bids – Villanova with five, Richmond four and William & Mary one.
The three PL newcomers are associate members for football only – W&M athletics remains in the Coastal Athletic Association, Richmond the Atlantic 10 and Villanova the Big East. But with the way the Patriot League has taken a bite out of CAA Football (which previously lost national championship programs James Madison and Delaware to FBS jumps), it’s made for a power shift among FCS conferences.
Since the Patriot League champion first qualified automatically for the playoffs in 1997, it’s mostly been a one-bid conference. The PL awards co-champions, so in the event of a tie atop the standings, head-to-head results mark the first way to determine which team advances to the second season. Colgate and Lehigh first shared the title in 1999 (Lehigh won head-to-head), and there’s been co-champions seven other times, most recently with Lehigh (the head-to-head winner) and Holy Cross in 2024.
In 29 years of postseason play, the Patriot League’s deepest run occurred in 2003 when Walter Payton Award-winning running back Jamal Branch helped carry Colgate to three wins and a national runner-up finish. There also have been seven seasons when the league had both the automatic qualifier and an at-large selection (first with Colgate and Lehigh in 1998, and also in 1999, 2004, 2005, 2013, 2015 and 2022).
Comparatively, the CAA has had multiple playoff teams in every season since 1991, and Richmond, Villanova and William & Mary have played a major part of that success. Last fall, Villanova (sixth-most FCS wins this decade) eliminated a then-unbeaten Lehigh squad in the playoff second round and went on to reach the national semifinals.
Series Records for Newest Patriot League Football Members
Richmond – Bucknell (3-1), Colgate (6-1), Fordham (2-1-1), Georgetown (4-5), Holy Cross (0-2), Lafayette (0-4), Lehigh (2-3) Villanova – Bucknell (5-0), Colgate (7-0), Fordham (3-1), Georgetown (0-0), Holy Cross (2-0), Lafayette (2-0), Lehigh (12-1) William & Mary – Bucknell (6-0), Colgate (8-4), Fordham (0-0), Georgetown (1-2), Holy Cross (0-2), Lafayette (6-1), Lehigh (8-1)With the new look, PL football will move to a nine-game conference schedule, so all teams will play each other and have nowhere to hide from quality opposition (their Aug. 27-29 openers are all within the league).
That seven of the 10 teams have appeared in the playoffs since 2022 reflects how the league profile is strong. Enough so, the Patriot League is poised to have one of the deeper conferences in the FCS and multiple playoff qualifiers regularly.
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