The Academic Gipper's Cup

[The Gipper]

Recall that I earlier awarded a "Gipper's Cup" for athletic achievement by a conference.

Here, I am awarding an "Academic Gipper's Cup" for academic rating by a conference.

I am only applying this to the big 6 "BCS" conferences. For this purpose I am utilizing each school's academic rank set in the US New and World Report's list of best Universities in America. Recall that each school is given a score corresponding to its national rank. E.g. the highest rated school in a BCS conference is Stanford which is rated #4 best university in the country (non-BCS Harvard, Princeton, and Yale rank over Stanford. USNWR will often give schools the same ranking, e.g Cal Tech and MIT are also ranked #4). Thus Stanford gets a 4 score for the Pac 10. I accumulate the scores for only the top 10 schools in a conference. The lowest score wins. Here are the results:

 

1. ACC with a total score of 394.

Its schools scored 10+24+28+28+34+35+50+53+61+71 (Duke through Va. Tech)

 

2. Big Ten with a score of 481

 

3. Pac 10 with a score of 691

 

4. Big East with a score of 765

 

5. Big 12 with a score of 876

 

6. SEC with a score of 906

 

Notes:

1. For the Big East score I included Notre Dame even though it doesn't compete in the Big East in football and some of the basketball only schools (Marquette, Seton Hall, St. John's). Had I used football only schools, the Big East would have certainly been in last place.

 

2. Okla. St. and Texas Tech were the two Big 12 schools excluded. Ole Miss and Miss. St. were omitted from SEC scoring. Taking Indiana or Michigan State's score for the Big Ten out would have made no difference as they each ranked 71st. Florida St. and NC St. were excluded from the ACC.

 

3. Stanford and Duke are the only Top 10 academic ranked universities in a BCS conference, ranking 4 and 10 respectively. Highest ranked in the other conferences were: Big Ten, Northwestern 12; SEC, Vanderbilt 17; Big 12, Texas 47; Big East, Pitt 56. Several schools in various conferences were given the lowest ranking score of 130: Oregon St., Kansas St., Seton Hall, St. John's, and Cincinnati.

 

4. See the following link for the complete list of national universities ranked by U.S. News and World report:

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews....sities-rankings

[ballpeen]

Rank 47 University of Florida

 

 

I like to see a top 50 ranking.

 

[Timugen]

A good follow-up would be "The Academic Student-Athlete Cup," which, in addition to the academic rankings of the universities, would take into account the graduation rates of football players. The disparities between the conferences would be mind-boggling.

[ballpeen]

It would...I know Florida ranks well in that area.

 

One thing that would have to be done is to back out the players who went to the NFL after their jr year.

 

Some conferences have a much higher percentage of quality players who opt for the big dollars of the NFL ASAP.

[The Gipper]

This academic ranking has nothing per se to do with the athletes at a school. It involves the entire student body. But yes, several schools do lose a lot of players early to the NFL. (Ohio State has been one to lose perhaps as as many as any school...remember, Beanie Wells could still be playing there)

[allaneddie]

1. ACC with a total score of 394.

Its schools scored 10+24+28+28+34+35+50+53+61+71 (Duke through Va. Tech)

 

Let me guess: Duke, Miami, Wake Forest, Boston College (those four are private, so always get the best grades, earned or not), then UVA, UNC, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Maryland, North Carolina State, Virginia Tech.

 

 

 

[The Gipper]

Rank 47 University of Florida

 

 

I like to see a top 50 ranking.

 

That ranking was available on the link I provided. Here is a list of the top ranked BCS only schools and their position (the Ivies/MITs etc. being left off):

 

4 Stanford

10 Duke

12 Northwestern

17 Vanderbilt

20 Notre Dame

21 Cal

23 Georgetown (recall I included non-football Big East Schools)

24 Virginia

24 UCLA (recall some schools tied)

26 USC

27 Michigan

28 North Carolina

28 Wake Forest

34 Boston College

35 Georgia Tech

39 Illinois

39 Wisconsin

42 Washington

47 Penn St.

47 Texas

47 Florida

50 Miami, Fla

53 Ohio St.

53 Maryland

56 Pitt

58 Georgia

58 Syracuse

61 Purdue

61 Minnesota

61 Clemson

61 Texas A&M

66 Rutgers

68 Connecticut

71 Va. Tech

71 Indiana

71 Michigan St.

77 Colorado

77 Baylor

84 Marquette

88 Iowa St.

88 Auburn

96 Alabama

96 Kansas

96 Nebraska

102 Arizona

102 Missouri

102 Oklahoma

106 Washington St.

106 Tennessee

110 South Carolina

 

I believe these constitute the top 50 BCS only schools

 

 

[The Gipper]

1. ACC with a total score of 394.

Its schools scored 10+24+28+28+34+35+50+53+61+71 (Duke through Va. Tech)

 

Let me guess: Duke, Miami, Wake Forest, Boston College (those four are private, so always get the best grades, earned or not), then UVA, UNC, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Maryland, North Carolina State, Virginia Tech.

 

The actual order of ACC schools is: Duke, Virginia, UNC, Wake, B.C., Ga. Tech, Miami, Maryland, Va. Tech, (recall that in the compilation I only took the top 10. NC.St. and FSU being dropped on the ACC side.

[The Gipper]

Note that my list only dealt with the rankings of "major universities". The following is the list from Forbes magazine listing the best colleges in the nation regardless of their category or size::

 

1. U.S. Military Academy (Army) (NY)

2. Princeton (NJ)

3. Cal Tech (CA)

4. Williams (MA)

5. Harvard (MA)

6. Wellesley (MA)

7. Air Force Academy (CO)

8. Amherst (MA)

9. Yale (CN)

10. Stanford (CA)

11. MIT (MA)

12. Swarthmore (PA)

13. Columbia (NY)

14. Centre College (KY)

15. Haverford (PA)

16. Boston College (MA)

17. Northwestern (IL)

18. Bowdoin (ME)

19. Vassar (NY)

20. Whitma (WA)

21. Un. of Chicago (IL)

22. Kenyon (OHio)

23. Carleton (MN)

24. Colby (ME)

25. Middlebury (VT)

26. Union (NY)

27. Claremont-McKenna (CA)

28. Pomona (CA)

29. Colgate (NY)

30. U.S. Naval Academy (MD)

31. Smith (MA)

32. Wabash (IN)

33. Harvey Mudd (CA)

34. Washington and Lee (VA)

35. Bryn Mawr (PA)

36. Franklin & Marshall (PA)

37. Wesleyan (CT).....alma mater of both Mangini and Belichick

38. Brandeis (MA)

39. Tufts (MA)

40. Barnard (NY)

41. Lawrence (WI)

42. DePauw (IN)

43. Rice (TX)

44. Reed (OR)

45. Washington Univ. in St. Louis (MO)

46. Bucknell (PA)

47. Mt. Holyoke (MA)

48. Hamilton (NY)

50. Notre Dame (IN)

 

This demonstrates as I am sure you are all aware that the very best colleges in the nation are by no means these big football and sports schools that get all the publicity but are the various smaller, liberal arts schools.

Note that only 4 of the top 50 schools on this list are "BCS" schools, Stanford, BC, Northwestern, and Notre Dame.

This ranking can vary quite a bit from the one put out by US News and World report. They are competitors.