There is general excitement that Notre Dame will play for the BCS title. Tuesday Morning Quarterback certainly is on the bandwagon. The mix of Notre Dame's place in football lore, its standing as an academic institution and its Irish traditions has broad appeal, including to those who are not Irish. Don't take this personally, SEC, but much of the nation, if not much of the world, will be rooting against you on Jan. 7.
There's an important aspect of the Notre Dame season that is being overlooked. Taking into account the latest NCAA graduation stats, last week Notre Dame became the first college football team to be ranked No. 1 in the polls and No. 1 in graduation success.
In recent years, Stanford has been close to the top for combination of poll rankings and graduation rates, showing that low standards are not needed to win football games. But Notre Dame is first to be a double No. 1, on the field and in the classroom. Hearty congratulations are due to coach Brian Kelly, Notre Dame president John Jenkins, and the Fighting Irish team.
Notre Dame's polls-and-academics double is so spectacular, why isn't the sports world buzzing about it? If this was mentioned during the prime-time Norte-Dame-USC broadcast Saturday night, I missed it. I heard about this spectacular achievement not from any major media organization but from TMQ reader John Brannon of Charlotte, N.C., who flagged me on the school's media release.
The NCAA ought to be intensely proud of Notre Dame's achievement. Instead, so far it has said nothing. The "network partners" of the NCAA -- ABC, CBS, ESPN, Fox and NBC -- ought to be intensely proud, rolling the drums for the double-first. Maybe this will happen in days to come, but has not happened yet.
One can't help thinking the NCAA and its network partners hesitate to draw attention to any big-college football program that does well in the classroom. That only sets the bar high for everyone else, and the NCAA, plus several of the big-money conferences, benefit from keeping the bar low. When Stanford and Virginia Tech met in the 2010 Orange Bowl, that contest featured the highest combined football graduation rates in BCS annals. So far as I am aware, only TMQ highlighted this. Instead of being proud of the Stanford-Virginia Tech pairing, the college football establishment seemed uneasy -- keep that bar low! Will the same happen for the Notre Dame achievement?
Big football programs with good graduation numbers don't get their results out of the sky. They set higher internal academics standards than the NCAA or their conferences require, and let recruits know, from the start, that they mean business about the classroom. The very first stop for potential recruits on official visits to Virginia Tech, for example, is an hour with an academic counselor. That happens before the young man meets any coach, or sees the stadium and its NFL-caliber facilities. Set the bar high, and athletes will respond -- because they are competitive by nature. Make excuses, and the graduation rate will be low.
Internal standards, as opposed to conference requirements, are one of the quiet issues in collegiate athletics. The NCAA governs college admission; whether an athlete remains eligible is for the most part determined by individual schools or their conferences. Beginning roughly 20 years ago, about the same time big money started flowing into college football, many football-factory universities have lowered their internal standards. This can even be a recruiting tool: "Don't go to Notre Dame, they will make you study, come here and party, party, party." Having achieved its double first, Notre Dame would do collegiate athletics a favor by disclosing its internal standards for athletes. That would help set a good example.
Other colleges doing well this season both in the football wins column and in graduation rates: Air Force, Boise State, Duke, Miami of Florida, Navy, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Stanford, Rutgers and Vanderbilt. Schools that are winning games but should be ashamed of their football graduation rates: Arizona, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington.
Compare any Football Bowl Subdivision program's won-loss results to graduation rates by checking the latest grad numbers here and the NCAA standings here.
http://espn.go.com/espn/playbook/st...ate-notre-dame-top-athletic-academic-rankings
