How Smart Is Your Program? - The APR Reports

It's COLLEGE football. As in everyone is supposed to go to class. The NCAA announced the yearly Academic Progress Reports, or A.P.R., this week with some shocking classroom stars up top and three at the bottom that will end up losing scholarships. Check out where your team ranked.

 
2009 Academic Progress Reports

What are the programs doing in the classroom?

By Pete Fiutak  

It gets easily forgotten, but this is college football. Of course, college football is nothing more than a glorified minor league, but the guys still have to go to class and at least pretend to try.

Welcome to the Academic Progress Reports, better known as the APR, for 2009, taking a look at the classes from 2003-2004 to 2007-2008. Every Division I sports team calculates its APR each academic year, based on the eligibility, retention and graduation of each scholarship student-athlete. Teams that score below 925 (this is the Mendoza line ... if you can't hit this, you're just not trying) on their four-year rate and have a student leave school academically ineligible can lose up to 10 percent of their scholarships through immediate penalties. Teams can also face historically based penalties for poor academic performance over time.

Below are the rankings for the FBS teams based on their APR and with our scoring for how they graded out. Stanford finished the highest overall, but we categorized the teams into ten categories. If a program was in the 90-100% range, it gets a 10 (for our Program Rankings to come out later this summer), while a program that finished in the 1-10% range gets a 1 (and a monster slap on the wrist from the NCAA).

10 is obviously amazing, and anything 7 or above is fantastic. 4 or below is miserable.

The "Smarts" By Conference

1. Independents 9.333
2. ACC 7.083
3. SEC 6.5
4. Big Ten 6.455
5. M-West 6.222
6. Big East 6.125
7. C-USA 5.833
8. Big 12 5.75
9. Pac 10 5.3
10. Sun Belt 4.563
11. WAC 4.556
12. MAC 4.208

10 - an APR of 90-to-100%

"As you know, we have no chapter at Adams College, which is why we agreed to see you. But I must tell you, gentlemen, you have very little chance of becoming Tri-Lambdas. I'm in a difficult situation here. I mean, after all ... you're nerds."

1. Stanford 984
2. Air Force 983
T3. Duke 980
T3. Rutgers 980
5. Rice 979
6. Navy 978
7. Miami (no, not the Ohio version) 977

9 - an APR of 80-to-90%

"But I will have a degree, and you'll be serving my kids fries at a drive-through on our way to a skiing trip."

T8. Georgia 976
T8. Penn State 976
10. Notre Dame 974
11. Northwestern 973
12. Boston College 970
13. California 970
14. Vanderbilt 969
15. Ohio State 968
16. Army 967
T17. Boise State 966
T17. Miami Univ. 966
T17. Wake Forest 966
20. Florida 963

8 - an APR of 70-to-80%

"Remember, compared to you, most people have the IQ of a carrot. We're different than most people, Mitch, but you should be proud of that."

T20. Tulane 963
22. TCU 962
T23. LSU 960
T23. UCF 960
T25. Georgia Tech 957
T25. Indiana 957
27. Syracuse 956
T28. Alabama 955
T28. Clemson 955
30. USC 956
T31. Utah 954
T31. Washington 954
33. Wisconsin 953

7 - an APR of 60-to-70%

"And today's special guest host on The View ... "

34. Oklahoma 952
T35. Connecticut 951
T35. Missouri 951
37. Nebraska 950
T38. Auburn 949
T38. Ohio 949
T38. Tennessee 949
T41. Fresno State 948
T41. Kentucky 948
T41. Memphis 948
T41. UCLA 948
T41. Western Kentucky 948
T46. Cincinnati 947
T46. Michigan 947
T46. North Carolina 947
T46. Northern Illinois 947
T46. SMU 947
T51. Iowa 946
T51. Texas A&M 946

6 - an APR of 50-to-60%

"Phys Ed? Okay, you're out of my room. Seriously. Get out."

T53. Arizona State 945
T53. Middle Tennessee 945
T53. Nevada 945
T53. Troy 945
T57. Ball State 944
T57. Colorado State 944
T57. Pittsburgh 944
T57. Southern Miss 944
T61. BYU 942
T61. Houston 942
T63. Arkansas State 941
T63. Kansas 941
T65. Kansas State 939
T65. Marshall 939
T65. Oklahoma State 939
T65. Wyoming 939

5 - an APR of 40-to-50%

"It ain't the way I wanted it! I can handle things! I'm smart! Not like everybody says ... like dumb ... I'm smart and I want respect."

T65. Texas 939
T65. West Virginia 939
71. Virginia 937
T72. Hawaii 935
T72. Iowa State 935
T72. Oregon 935
T72. Texas Tech 935
T76. Eastern Michigan 934
T76. Louisiana Tech 934
T78. Mississippi State 933
T78. NC State 933
T80. Florida State 932
T80. New Mexico 932
T80. Virginia Tech 932

4 - an APR of 30-to-40%

"Lord help me, I'm just not that bright."

T80. East Carolina 932
T80. Western Michigan 932
T85. Maryland 931
T85. Michigan State 931
T85. Tulsa 931
T85. Utah State 931
T89. Baylor 930
T89. Central Michigan 930
T89. Illinois 930
T89. Louisville 930
T89. Oregon State 930
T94. Colorado 929
T94. South Carolina 929
T94. UNLV 929

3 - an APR of 20-to-30%

De-Fense (clap, clap) ... De-Fense (clap, clap)

97. Arkansas 927
T98. Akron 926
T98. Purdue 926
100. UTEP 925
101. Arizona 924
102. Bowling Green 920
103. Washington State 918
104. Kent State 919
105. UL Lafayette 916
106. Minnesota 915
107. San Diego State 914
108. Florida Atlantic 913

2 - an APR of 10-to-20%

"I am so smart. I am so smart. S-M-R-T."

109. North Texas 911
110. Ole Miss 910
111. South Florida 909
T112. Buffalo 908
T112. Toledo 908
114. UL Monroe 906
T115. Idaho 905
T115. New Mexico State 905
117. Florida Int. 904

1 - an APR of 1-to-10%

"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

118. Temple 891
119. San Jose State 888
120. UAB 875