Urban Meyer quote I found on Gator Country. First off there were 64 bowl teams last year and not 56 and 2nd the Irish had a higher Grad rate than the Gators. Terry
Here's a link to the Iowa site that has grad rates for the 64 teams playing in bowls last year. They list the Grad Rates of all the 2006-2007 bowl bound teams, all 64. BC #1 at 92%, Neb #2 at 84%, PSU #3 at 83%, ND at #4 81%.....way down at 57th tied with Nevada is Fla at 32%. Grad Rates Now no doubt I'm sure Urban was quoting the most recent numbers, but ...still it's 64 teams!! And I doubt seriously UF is #1.
Northwestern and Notre Dame Receive 2007 Academic Achievement Award Courtesy: AFCA Release: 05/17/2007 Courtesy: AFCA Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald WACO, TEX. — Northwestern University and the University of Notre Dame will receive the American Football Coaches Association’s 2007 Academic Achievement Award, which is presented annually by the Touchdown Club of Memphis. The schools recorded a 95 percent graduation rate for members of their freshman classes of 2001-2002. Northwestern’s honor is the fifth for the school since 1998, when all Division I-A schools were first included in the AFCA’s Graduation Rate Survey. Prior to 1998 the survey was done by the College Football Association and was only open to CFA members. Notre Dame has earned its seventh award, the second-highest total behind Duke’s 12 honors. "This is an award that Northwestern takes great pride in," Northwestern Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald said. "First and foremost, our student-athletes work hard on and off the field, and realize the value of a Northwestern degree. We also have a tremendous support system, led by our academic services department, that allows a Northwestern student-athlete to reach his potential in the classroom." “We are very excited to win this award for a seventh time,” Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis said. “This goes to show how seriously we take academics at Notre Dame and how we truly intend on graduating our student-athletes in four years or less. This is a great tribute to the efforts put forth by our recent players and especially to the stellar job our academic services staff does here at Notre Dame.” Thirty-two other institutions will be recognized for graduating 70 percent or more of their football student-athletes. Two of those institutions — Duke and Vanderbilt — achieved a rate of 90 percent or better. The remaining 30 institutions are: Alabama, Arkansas State, Ball State, Baylor, Boston College, Bowling Green, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana Tech, Miami (Ohio), Mississippi State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Penn State, Rice, Rutgers, Syracuse, Texas, TCU, Texas Tech, Toledo, Troy, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Washington State, Wisconsin. The overall graduation rate of the 107 schools that responded to the survey was 60 percent, surpassing the mark of 58 percent in each of the previous two years. Fifty-two of the members responding were above the average and 55 were below the average. The median graduation rate was 59 percent, compared to 57 percent for the last two years. The 107 respondents to this year’s survey is a record high. One hundred and four schools replied in 2006. The study involves the freshman class from the academic year of 2001-2002, including those who entered at that time but who did not receive financial aid until after their initial year, or who transferred from another institution and subsequently received a grant-in-aid. Conference Breakdown: Atlantic Coast (5), Big 10 (5), Mid-American (5), Big East (4), Big 12 ( 4), Southeastern (4), Sun Belt (2), Conference USA (1), Independent (1), Mountain West (1), Pac-10 (1), Western Athletic (1). Academic Achievement Award Winners Through the Years 1981: Duke* 1982: Notre Dame* 1983: Notre Dame* 1984: Duke & Notre Dame* 1985: Virginia* 1986: Virginia* 1987: Duke* 1988: Notre Dame* 1989: Kentucky* 1990: Duke* 1991: Notre Dame* 1992: Boston College & TCU* 1993: Duke* 1994: Duke* 1995: Boston College, Duke & Wake Forest* 1996: Boston College, Duke & Vanderbilt* 1997: Duke* 1998: Northwestern 1999: Duke 2000: Syracuse 2001: Notre Dame & Vanderbilt 2002: Northwestern 2003: Duke 2004: Boston College & Northwestern 2005: Duke & Northwestern 2006: SMU 2007: Northwestern & Notre Dame *- Presented by the College Football Association Most Awards: Duke, 12; Notre Dame, 7; Boston College, 5; Northwestern, 5 Another example of Urban renewal :wink:
I don't know where a lot of this information comes from. There are two things I do know, and that is the University of Florida Athletic oofficial web site refers to a NCAA release in December that sated the Gators had a high graduation rate, and I have not been able to find this one. Then the release that was duplicated above states the Gators were above 70 percent which is much higher than the 32% I read about further up this topic. I am personally very happy with the 70 percent plus and don't want to get into any debate as to who is best, there seems to many different stats that are supposedly offical for me to do that. I will also say that a 95 percent graduation rate is unbelievable, off the charts great. Congratulations to Notre Dame.