Which school made it to top 25 list largely (not solely) based upon its sports teams?
Looking back far enough, you could say Harvard, Yale and Princeton, the Big Three of football at one time. An aspect of this worth noting might be the reinforcement of this image through a football oriented novel of the same generation, Stover at Yale.
The Ivy League is an athletic conference instead of an academic group, so I’d agree that the Ivy League schools were the first to use sports to further academics.
Probably could add ND, UofM, and USC.
Which schools may loose their spots on elite lists in few years if they ended their sports programs and lost that glittery ability to attract applicant ?