<p>^ Normally, no - but Stanford currently has the 12-13th rated recruiting class.</p>
<p>Duke has a great new coach and he is recruiting very well.</p>
<p>
[quote]
</p>
<p>Quote:
I had seen a post on here a little while back showing that the only five schools whose football team's avg SAT was over 950 were Stanford, Northwestern, Duke, Rice, Vanderbilt. </p>
<p>During the 1990s, only 2 schools had avg. SAT scores over 1000 - Stanford and Northwestern (I think this was before the SAT scores were "pushed up").
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Sadly, I'm pretty sure the study I am quoting was after the SAT was pushed up. Stanford was #1 at 1070.</p>
<p>As one who frequently posts about fan support at major college sports as a positive aspect of collegiate life, I enjoyed the following article.</p>
<p>ESPN</a> - Football's oldest stadiums: Witnesses to the game's evolution - Travel</p>
<p>I particularly enjoyed the photographs of the full stadiums in the article. Could those times ever return to the Ivy colleges? My view is that some Ivy colleges want to improve their product. I'm not saying that they plan to build athletic factories and sacrifice their academic reps, but it looks to me that Harvard is actively taking steps to improve the athletic life for their students and their teams.</p>
<p>I went to the Yale-Holy Cross game at the Yale Bowl this weekend. Incredible venue for a football game. The Yale Bowl was built in 1914 and is a veritable museum piece. If felt a little like being in Fenway Park. Phenomenal tailgating going on before the game and the weather was spectacular. The last 4 minutes of the game and the two overtime periods were thrilling. The best entertainment for $15 ever. Yale escaped with a 31-28 victory over Holy Cross.</p>
<p>Several LACs have even older football fields, though admittedly they don't qualify as stadiums. The "Little Three" championship is decided every year on the same fields where football has been played since 1881 (Wesleyan), 1883 (Williams), and 1891 (Amherst). In fact, most of the 10 football teams in Division III's New England Small College Athletic Conference still play on historic 19th-century fields.</p>
<p>
[quote]
My view is that some Ivy colleges want to improve their product. I'm not saying that they plan to build athletic factories and sacrifice their academic reps, but it looks to me that Harvard is actively taking steps to improve the athletic life for their students and their teams.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The Ivies have gotten more aggressive w/ regard to "cutting corners" in recruiting (for FB/BB) in order to get more competitive (they hardly are more immune to what's been taking place in college sports).</p>
<p>It's the same "cutting corners" which resulted in a rash of off-the-field problems for IL FB players a year or so ago.</p>
<p>Harvard's BB coach, Amaker, just made the classless move of cutting the sophomores on the team (w/o giving them a chance to compete or transfer) to make way for his freshman class of recruits.</p>
<p>k&s -- it's not like they had scholarships rescinded :) Actually, an argument can be made that it is the best thing that could have happened to these sophomores (depending on your value system). They got into Harvard with an athletic hook, and now are relieved of completing that obligation. Time to concentrate on their futures, not their hobbies.</p>
<p>You'd be surprised how many hooked recruits at the Ivies, and non-scholarship hooked recruits at Duke, Northwestern, Stanford, Vandy et.al. after freshman year decide the athletic commitments are far larger than they anticipated, and volutarily retire from their teams to concentrate on academics. They got in to a school they would not have gotten into otherwise ... that's is the big prize.</p>
<p>If they didn't want to continue playing BB once they had gotten into Harvard, why would they? How do you think the student newspaper staff would feel if they were told one day they were all off the team and the new recruits were taking over?</p>
<p>Sorry Dunnin - but that is the biggest crap of an "excuse".</p>
<p>Tell that to those (former) Harvard BB players who are pretty upset (as are their parents).</p>
<p>Before a packed house in Nashville, it was a historic weekend for Vanderbilt as, for the first time in over 50 years, they defeated nationally-ranked Auburn. A winning season and a bowl appearance look like real possibilities for Vanderbilt. Congrats to the Commodores and their long-suffering fans. </p>
<p>In this week’s version of the SAT bowl, Notre Dame overcame Stanford before a capacity crowd in South Bend. It looks like the Irish are back to their winning ways. </p>
<p>And good luck this weekend to Northwestern as the Wildcats put their undefeated record on the line against Michigan State….</p>
<p>Here is the full rundown of attendance and game scores from last weekend for the USNWR Top 30 National Universities:</p>
<pre><code>10/4 , BOWL DIVISION
</code></pre>
<p>With 80,795 in attendance STANFORD lost to @ Notre Dame by 21-28
With 46,104 in attendance DUKE lost to @ Ga Tech by 0-27
NORTHWESTERN , No game<br>
With 24,926 in attendance RICE lost to @ U Tulsa by 28-63
With 38,773 in attendance VANDERBILT defeated Auburn by 14-13
With 80,795 in attendance NOTRE DAME defeated Stanford by 28-21
With 58,302 in attendance UC BERKELEY defeated Arizona State by 24-14
With 50,727 in attendance U VIRGINIA defeated U Maryland by 31-0
With 65,469 in attendance UCLA defeated Washington State by 28-3
With 109,750 in attendance U MICHIGAN lost to U Illinois by 20-45
With 82,765 in attendance USC defeated U Oregon by 44-10
WAKE FOREST , No game<br>
With 59,500 in attendance U NORTH CAROLINA defeated U Conn by 38-12</p>
<pre><code>10/4 , CHAMPIONSHIP SUB-DIVISION & DIVISION III
</code></pre>
<p>With 7,789 in attendance HARVARD defeated @ Lafayette by 27-13
With 8,733 in attendance PRINCETON defeated @ Columbia by 27-24
With 14,512 in attendance YALE defeated Holy Cross by 31-28
With 1,250 in attendance MIT lost to @ U Mass-Dartmouth by 20-51
With 12,433 in attendance U PENN defeated Dartmouth by 23-10
With 8,733 in attendance COLUMBIA lost to Princeton by 24-27
U CHICAGO , No game<br>
With 12,433 in attendance DARTMOUTH lost to @ U Penn by 10-23
With 3,000 in attendance WASH U lost to @ Rhodes by 10-28
With 10,460 in attendance CORNELL defeated @ Lehigh by 25-24
With 1,100 in attendance JOHNS HOPKINS lost to Muhlenberg by 23-28
With 6,014 in attendance BROWN lost to @ U Rhode Is by 13-37
With 1,131 in attendance CARNEGIE MELLON defeated Kenyon by 23-12
GEORGETOWN game was postponed<br>
With 1,037 in attendance TUFTS lost to @ Bowdoin by 26-28</p>
<pre><code> NO TEAM
CALTECH
EMORY
</code></pre>
<p>The Yale Bowl seats over 70,000 and when it was built it was the largest sports venue in the country.</p>
<p>I've often wondered what the atmosphere at an "Ivy type" game would be like. </p>
<p>I would hate to see the donor lists at those schools, yikes!</p>
<p>At the Yale-Holy Cross game on Saturday the tailgating before and during the game was widespread and very high brow with many people with crystal wine glasses and cheese plates and amazing spreads on fancy table cloths. My wife actually enjoyed going to this game!</p>
<p>Yeah, that's kind of what I had expected to hear about the tailgating.</p>
<p>I'd take red plastic cups, burgers and beer pong any day of the week :D</p>
<p>A few Articles:</p>
<p>I think the Navy football team has an average GPA of over 1100 and we easily graduate the highest percentage of our football team? Not a legit football team you say? How about 6 straight bowl appearances?</p>
<p>NCAA</a> announces graduation rates - Texas #216 : Fanblogs College Football Blog</p>
<p>Top 10 Grad Rates for All Athletes: Major Programs
Navy 99%
Notre Dame 98%
Duke 97%
Northwestern 96%
Boston College 96%
Army 95%
Air Force 94%
Stanford 93%
Vanderbilt 93%
Wake Forest 93% </p>
<p>The service academies, led by Navy's 99% graduation rate, made a strong showing this year. Most of the schools on the top 10 list this year are the same schools that were on the top 10 list last year. There's one notable exception. Last year, the top 10 list included an unexpected name alongside the usual suspects Clemson, at 97%. We were suspicious, as we said in last year's report. Sure enough, it looks like that 97% grad rate was a fluke, or maybe just plain wrong. This year, Clemson's GSR has dropped all the way to 84%. Remember, these GSRs cover the previous four years' worth of data. So, three years' worth of this year's data was also in last year's number. </p>
<p>Scout.com:</a> The Bootleg's Graduation Rate Analysis</p>
<p>I've found that a lot of unqualified people are accepted to school solely on their athletic merits with little to no consideration given to academics. Unfortunately, that's just the way that it goes. A lot of programs are willing to compromise in the classroom if they can get that monster or stud recruit to produce on the field/court. This isn't going to change anytime soon either; especially considering the money that athletics generate at big-time Division I schools. Don't let it get you down though -- keep your head up and even though you can't dunk, you still may very well appeal to the admissions people.</p>
<p>Inside Higher Ed on football.</p>
<p>William & Mary has been highly ranked in mens and womens soccer. Football team played in the National Championship semis and BBall team made in to the conference finals. Womens tennis has always been nationally ranked. Athletic graduation rank was tied with Stanford for 5th last year. </p>
<p>Great combo of school and sports.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I think the Navy football team has an average GPA of over 1100 and we easily graduate the highest percentage of our football team? Not a legit football team you say? How about 6 straight bowl appearances?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Actually, I think it's only 5 straight bowl appearances:</p>
<p>2003- Houston Bowl
2004 - Emerald Bowl
2005- Poinsettia Bowl
2006- Meineke Car Care Bowl
2007- Poinsettia Bowl</p>
<p>It's hard for me to see how Navy could have gone to a bowl in 2002 given that they went 2-10 that year.</p>