Which college football conferences have the best academic rankings?
As the wheels continue to turn on the latest round of conference realignment, many pundits have pointed out that academics are an important factor since conference decisions are made at the university president level.
We all heard about how the Big Ten and Pac-12 consider it important for members to be part of the prestigious American Association of Universities (the only schools in those conferences that aren’t members are Arizona State, Nebraska, Oregon State and Washington State) and that their alliance with the ACC at least partly has to do with shared academic values.
Earlier this week, U.S. News and World Report released its latest college rankings. These rankings are considered to be among the most credible rankings of U.S. colleges.
So I took a spin through these rankings to see which conferences truly have the most academic caché, and how schools within each conference rank relative to each other.
Below are the rankings for all 134 FBS schools. The conferences are ranked from best average ranking to worst average ranking. Schools are each grouped in with the conference they’ll be part of in 2025.
Note: There are a lot of ties in the U.S. News rankings, that’s why you’ll see many schools with the same ranking. The lowest possible ranking is 331st, which is shared by more than 100 schools. And there are a handful of schools that did not receive a ranking because they have no accreditation or only national accreditation. I did not count those unranked schools in their conference’s average.
Rankings last updated on Jan. 13, 2023.
Big Ten
Average ranking: 56th
Northwestern — 10th
UCLA — 20th
Michigan — 25th
Southern Cal — 25th
Wisconsin — 38th
Illinois — 41st
Ohio State — 49th
Purdue — 51st
Maryland — 55th
Rutgers — 55th
Minnesota — 62nd
Indiana — 72nd
Michigan State — 77th
Penn State — 77th
Iowa — 83rd
Nebraska — 151st
ACC
Average ranking: 57th (55th with Notre Dame)
Duke — 10th
(Notre Dame — 18th)
Virginia — 25th
North Carolina — 29th
Wake Forest — 29th
Boston College — 36th
Georgia Tech — 44th
Florida State — 55th
Miami — 55th
Pittsburgh — 62nd
Syracuse — 62nd
Virginia Tech — 62nd
NC State — 72nd
Clemson — 77th
Louisville — 182nd
Pac-12
Average ranking: 97th
Stanford — 3rd
California — 20th
Washington — 55th
Colorado — 97th
Arizona — 105th
Oregon — 105th
Utah — 105th
Arizona State — 121st
Oregon State — 151st
Washington State — 212th
SEC
Average ranking: 109th
Vanderbilt — 13th
Florida — 29th
Texas — 38th
Georgia — 49th
Texas A&M — 67th
Auburn — 97th
South Carolina — 115th
Tennessee — 115th
Missouri — 121st
Oklahoma — 127th
Kentucky — 137th
Alabama — 137th
Mississippi — 151st
Arkansas — 176th
LSU — 176th
Mississippi State — 194th
Big 12
Average ranking: 148th
Baylor — 77th
BYU — 89th
TCU — 89th
Kansas — 121st
Iowa State — 127th
UCF — 137th
Cincinnati — 151st
Kansas State — 166th
Houston — 182nd
Oklahoma State — 182nd
Texas Tech — 219th
West Virginia — 234th
AAC
Average ranking: 182nd
Rice — 15th
Tulane — 44th
SMU — 72nd
South Florida — 97th
Temple — 121st
Tulsa — 137th
UAB — 137th
Charlotte — 219th
East Carolina — 234th
Florida Atlantic — 263rd
Memphis — 263rd
North Texas — 285th
UTSA — 331st
Navy — N/A
Wichita State — 331st (non-football member)
Mountain West
Average ranking: 226th
Colorado State — 151st
San Diego State — 151st
Hawaii — 166th
Wyoming — 202nd
New Mexico — 212th
Fresno State — 250th
Utah State — 250th
Nevada — 263rd
UNLV — 285th
Boise State — 331st
San Jose State — N/A
Air Force — N/A
MAC
Average ranking: 240th
Buffalo — 89th
Miami — 105th
Ohio — 182nd
Ball State — 212th
Kent State — 212th
Central Michigan — 250th
Bowling Green — 263rd
Toledo — 285th
Western Michigan — 285th
Akron — 331st
Eastern Michigan — 331st
Northern Illinois — 331st
Conference USA
Average ranking: 291st
Florida International — 151st
New Mexico State — 263rd
Sam Houston — 263rd
Middle Tennessee State — 299th
Louisiana Tech — 317th
Liberty — 331st
UTEP — 331st
Western Kentucky — 331st
Jacksonville State — N/A
Sun Belt
Average ranking: 299th
James Madison — 151st
Georgia State — 234th
Old Dominion — 299th
Marshall — 299th
Arkansas State — 317th
Georgia Southern — 331st
Louisiana — 331st
South Alabama — 331st
Southern Miss —331st
Texas State — 299th
ULM — 331st
Appalachian State — N/A
Coastal Carolina — N/A
Troy — N/A
Independents
Notre Dame — 18th
UConn — 67th
UMass — 67th
Army — N/A
Research 1 universities
Another way to measure academic status is by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. There are 131 schools in the country with Research 1 (R1) status.
Of the 69 schools that will be part of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 or SEC by 2025, the only ones that don’t have R1 status are BYU, TCU and Wake Forest.
Of the other 62 schools that play FBS football, just 17 of them have R1 status:
- 7 in the AAC (North Texas, Rice, South Florida, Temple, Tulane, UAB, UTEP)
- 5 in the Mountain West (Colorado State, Hawaii, New Mexico, Nevada, UNLV)
- 2 in the Sun Belt (Georgia State, Southern Miss)
- 2 independents (UConn, UMass)
- 1 in the MAC (Buffalo)
