Big Time College Football: THE World Rankings

As I work on my Fall/Winter research project I remembered an article about the academic performance of the BCS. This article stated that BCS schools and their conferences are wonderful academic institutions and some of them are the best in the world. The final paragraph states the following:

“As these data show, high powered academics and high powered athletics coexist in many first rank institutions. However, we also conclude that having a first rate athletic program is no guarantee of high-powered academics but that many first-rate research universities have no difficulty sustaining outstanding athletic programs.”

I am going to move on from this odd and confusing conclusion and look at Times Higher Education (THE) world rankings of from 2011-2012 and see if any of these truly world class institutions have big time college football programs. I am using the 2011-2012 list because for my research project I am using the Equity in Athletics Data Analysis Cutting Tool from 2011-2012.

Below is a rundown of the to 25:

- 7 are outside the US;

- 6 are in the Ivy League;

- 4 are in the PAC-12;

- 4 are in Division III;

- 2 are in the ACC;

- 1 is in the the Big-10;

- and 1 does not have a football program.

Of the top 25; 40% are in I-AA or DIII, 28% are part of the BCS, and 4% do not have a football program. Instead of commenting on these stats and guessing at what they might mean, I will ask a series of questions to hopefully spark further inquiry:

- Does a big time college football program help an institution be world class when most of the THE methodology focuses on graduate education?

- Besides the Ivy League, why does the PAC-12 have the most institutions in the top 25?

- Would jumping up to I-A hurt Ivy League or the DIII schools and their world rankings?

- How is the California Institute of Technology the top institution in the world without a football program?

- Does having a football program help with alumni relations?

- Does having a football program help with fundraising and increasing endowments?

- Does having a football program help with undergraduate engagement?

- How much time and resources are taken away from the core mission of an institution by football?

- Is it better to have a I-AA or DIII football program if an institution wants to be world class?