TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama football team already led the nation in active players earning their master’s degrees, and was tied for having the most graduates on the roster this bowl season, but over the weekend was highly ranked in a new way.
The Crimson Tide was third in the annual academic rankings of the top 25 college football teams by New America, a Washington D.C. think-tank.
To compile its rankings, New America uses each team’s football graduation success rate (GSR), but penalizes schools for graduating players at different rates than the overall male student body.
Of the four playoff teams — Alabama, Florida State, Ohio State and Oregon — the Crimson Tide was the only one to finish in the top five, while the reigning champion Seminoles were last by a wide margin thanks in part to a 65 percent GSR.
“It’s super troubling,” Alexander Holt, policy analyst at New America, told Time, as it first put the rankings on its website. “Florida State is a very good football school. But what’s going on here with the other 35% of the players?”
This year’s academic rankings:
Ranking, Team, Record, Playoff ranking
1. TCU 11-1 6
2. UCLA 9-3 14
3. Alabama 12-1 1
4. Clemson 9-3 17
5. Arizona State 9-3 15
6. Ohio State 12-1 4
7. Georgia 9-3 13
8. Utah 8-4 22
9. Arizona 10-3 10
10. Kansas State 9-3 11
11. Auburn 8-4 19
12. Louisville 9-3 21
13. Mississippi State 10-2 7
14. Oregon 12-1 2
15. Missouri 10-3 16
16. Baylor 11-1 5
17. Georgia Tech 10-3 12
18. LSU 8-4 23
19. Michigan State 10-2 8
20. Wisconsin 10-3 18
21. Minnesota 8-4 25
22. Florida State 13-0 3
23. Boise State 11-2 20
24. Ole Miss 9-3 9
25. Southern California 8-4 24
Christopher Walsh has covered Alabama football since 2004 and is the author of 19 books. In his free time, he writes about college football.
