Penn State Ranked No. 5 In CFP Academic Ranking
The 2016 Nittany Lions continue the tradition of Success With Honor by coming in at No. 5 in Washington think tank New America’s academic ranking of the College Football Playoff Top 25.
Penn State took the top of the ranking behind Stanford at No. 1, followed by Clemson, Temple, and Virginia Tech.
Penn State ranked highest among all Big Ten schools. Big Ten Championship runner-up Wisconsin came in at No. 9, while Michigan was No. 14, and Ohio State landed at No. 21. Fellow in-state rival Pitt also checked in at No. 20, and Rose Bowl competitor USC was ranked at No. 23.
The ranking compares each Top 25 team’s graduating success rate (GSR) to the school’s graduation rate of the general student body. The more similar the graduation rates, the higher the ranking. Schools were assessed penalties for higher discrepancies between the graduation rates. Even schools where the football team had higher graduation rates than the general student body were assessed penalties. The ranking didn’t want to reward schools with low overall graduation rates.
You can view the entire academic Top 25 below:
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