Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Graduating to a new standard

The matchups are all set for the bowl games that will end the 2006 college football season. But which teams in the Associated Press Top 25 would be the most deserving of the national title game, by the graduation rates of their players?

The answer would not be Ohio State vs. Florida.

It would be Navy vs. Boston College, in my 11th-annual Graduation Gap Bowl.
Those schools have respective National Collegiate Athletic Association graduation success rates of 98 percent and 96 percent.

To be fair, Florida is no slouch. It ranks sixth in graduation rates among the AP teams, at 80 percent. But it is one of only two Top 10 teams to also be in the Top 10 in the classroom. Michigan is the other team, but its 71 percent graduation rate cuts down the middle of a horrible gap between white players (91 percent) and black players (50 percent). Ohio State is tied for 23rd at 55 percent. Check out the comparisons below.

Top 25 Graduation Rates

Team Players' graduation %
1. Navy 98
2. Boston College 96
3. Notre Dame 95
4. Wake Forest 93
5. Nebraska 88
6. Florida 80
7. Penn State 80
8. Texas Christian 78
9. Virginia Tech 74
10. Michigan 71
11. South Florida 66
12. Boise State 65
13. Maryland 64
14. South Carolina 64
15. Auburn 63
16. Texas A&M 63
17. West Virginia 63
18. Wisconsin 62
19. Oregon State 60
20. UCLA 59
21. Rutgers 58
22. Tennessee 58
23. Arkansas 55
24. Georgia Tech 55
25. OSU and USC 55
Barely passing graduation rates in the AP rankings: Brigham Young 53, Louisville 53, Oklahoma 52, Houston 51.
Teams that should be dropped from bowls on overall graduation success rates:
Hawaii 49, LSU 49, California 44, Georgia 41, Texas 40.