Big Ten schools are football preseason favorites

Four Big Ten schools are listed in the top five favorites for the upcoming football season. Leading everybody in the country is Wisconsin. Second is Michigan, followed by Illinois. Penn State is ranked number five in the pre-season favorites.

This might come as a surprise to you, and it should. Well, because I have re-ranked the pre-season favorites according to their respective academic rankings in the world. The Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University has released its latest rankings, which I have used here. So, if you want the eventual champion to have at least a little bit of an academic standing in the world, then root for a top-ten team listed here. (Full disclosure: I went to USC!)

Click here for my previous post comparing salaries of coaches at these same universities.

Football Rank	University	Academic Rank--US	World Rank	New Rank
1	Georgia	Group 55-70	Group 102-150	10
2	Southern California	37	50	6
3	Ohio State	41	61	8
4	Oklahoma	Group 118-140	Group 305-402	19
5	Florida	38	51	7
6	LSU	Group 89-117	Group 203-304	13
7	Missouri	Group 89-117	Group 203-304	13
8	West Virginia	Group 141-166	Group 403-510*	24
9	Clemson	Group 118-140	Group 305-402	19
10	Texas	29	38	4
11	Auburn	Group 118-140	Group 305-402	19
12	Wisconsin	15	17	1
13	Kansas	Group 89-117	Group 203-304	13
14	Texas Tech	Group 118-140	Group 305-402	19
15	Virginia Tech	Group 71-88	Group 151-202	11
16	Arizona State	53	96	9
17	BYU	Group 118-140	Group 305-402	19
18	Tennessee	Group 71-88	Group 151-202	11
19	Illinois	19	26	3
20	Oregon	Group 89-117	Group 203-304	13
21	South Florida	Group 89-117	Group 203-304	13
22	Penn State	32	43	5
23	Wake Forest	Group 89-117	Group 203-304	13
24	Michigan	18	21	2
25	Fresno State	Unranked	Unranked	???

* this is the final group.