Graduation Gap Bowl

Derrick Jackson of the Boston Globe has compiled his annual Graduation Gap Bowl. It compares the Associated Press Top 25 college football teams with how those teams would rank by the graduation rates of their players:

AP Top 25 College Football Team (1st-place votes) Record 1. Ohio State (65) 12-0 2. Florida 12-1 3. Michigan 11-1 4. LSU 10-2 5. Louisville 11-1 6. Wisconsin 11-1 7. Oklahoma 11-2 8. USC 10-2 9. Boise State 12-0 10. Auburn 10-2 11. Notre Dame 10-2 12. Arkansas 10-3 13. West Virginia 10-2 14. Virginia Tech 10-2 15. Wake Forest 11-2 16. Rutgers 10-2 17. Tennessee 9-3 18. Texas 9-3 19. BYU 10-2 20. California 9-3 21. Texas A&M 9-3 22. Nebraska 9-4 23. Boston College 9-3 24. Oregon State 9-4 25. TCU 10-2 Others receiving votes: Georgia 57, Georgia Tech 53, Hawaii 25, Houston 21, Penn State 9, Maryland 6, South Florida 6, Navy 4, South Carolina 3, UCLA 2.

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.

Say what you want about Notre Dame football and its fans, but the team's graduation rate is impressive. As to my friends from the University of Texas, ahh . . .

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