Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Big Ten schools are football preseason favorites

Four Big Ten schools are listed in the top five favorites for the upcoming football season. Leading everybody in the country is Wisconsin. Second is Michigan, followed by Illinois. Penn State is ranked number five in the pre-season favorites.

This might come as a surprise to you, and it should. Well, because I have re-ranked the pre-season favorites according to their respective academic rankings in the world. The Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University has released its latest rankings, which I have used here. So, if you want the eventual champion to have at least a little bit of an academic standing in the world, then root for a top-ten team listed here. (Full disclosure: I went to USC!)

Click here for my previous post comparing salaries of coaches at these same universities.



























































































































































































Football

Rank
UniversityAcademic Rank--USWorld RankNew Rank
1GeorgiaGroup 55-70Group 102-15010
2Southern California37506
3Ohio State41618
4OklahomaGroup 118-140Group 305-40219
5Florida38517
6LSUGroup 89-117Group 203-30413
7MissouriGroup 89-117Group 203-30413
8West VirginiaGroup 141-166Group 403-510*24
9ClemsonGroup 118-140Group 305-40219
10Texas29384
11AuburnGroup 118-140Group 305-40219
12Wisconsin15171
13KansasGroup 89-117Group 203-30413
14Texas TechGroup 118-140Group 305-40219
15Virginia TechGroup 71-88Group 151-20211
16Arizona State53969
17BYUGroup 118-140Group 305-40219
18TennesseeGroup 71-88Group 151-20211
19Illinois19263
20OregonGroup 89-117Group 203-30413
21South FloridaGroup 89-117Group 203-30413
22Penn State32435
23Wake ForestGroup 89-117Group 203-30413
24Michigan18212
25Fresno StateUnrankedUnranked???

* this is the final group.




No comments: