I came across an interesting article in the Connecticut Day about college football teams and their academic rankings. Assistant sports editor Mike DiMauro looked at the 2007-08 NCAA Bowl Academic Progress Rates and Graduation Success Rates Study produced by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida.
According to the study, of all the teams appearing in bowl games this season, the top ten (based on graduation rate formulas) are:
No. 1 Navy
No. 2 Boston College
No. 3 Air Force
No. 4 Rutgers
No. 5 Southern Mississippi
No. 6 Auburn
No. 7 Wake Forest
No. 8 California
No. 9 UConn
No. 10 Texas Christian
Anyone who follows Navy football could almost think that this is next year's schedule. In the past 5 years, Navy has played all these teams except Southern Mississippi, Auburn and California. We played Air Force, Rutgers and Wake Forest this year, and faced Boston College in last year's bowl game.
Here's how the schools in the major bowl games rank:
National championship: No. 42 Ohio State vs. No. 31 LSU.
Sugar Bowl: Georgia vs. No. 64 Hawaii.
Orange Bowl: No. 42 (tied with Ohio State) Virginia Tech vs. No. 57 Kansas.
Fiesta Bowl: No. 34 Oklahoma vs. No. 48 West Virginia.
Rose Bowl: No. 21 USC vs. No. 46 Illinois.
It's good to know that some schools still manage to put together quality football programs with guys who go to college expecting to graduate and pursue a real career.
Thanks to Mike DiMauro for picking up on this study, which the Baltimore Sun totally ignored.
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