The Proof

Back on January 9, 2011, I wrote a blog about the disconnect between college academics and college football. The impetus for my posting was the praise being given to the football teams from the SEC conference for their bowl game successes. My point was that the real measure of college success was in the classroom not the football field.

This past week U.S News and World Report completed their annual academic rankings of the major colleges and universities. The Wall Street Journal used this information in preparing an article on the collective academic rankings of the various athletic conferences.

The Big Ten has an average national ranking of 50 led by Northwestern at number 12 and Michigan at number 28. How did the SEC rank? An average ranking of 103 with academic heavyweights like Mississippi State at 157 and LSU at 128. The only worse conference was the Big 12 (average score of 120) with Texas Tech burning up the classroom with a rank of 160.

So where do you want your kid in school?