Yes but...... what are the admissions standards for USC compared to ND for athletes? And what are the majors available for athletes at USC compared to ND? And what are the rankings when you take out the small private Liberal arts colleges like Pomona Pitzer?
I was merely referring to ACADEMICS PER SE as the suggestion -- albeit made jokingly -- was that USC is an academically second rate institution which it clearly isn't.
My point was to show just how highly, in fact, it is rated as are also Stanford, UCLA and Cal.
ND dines out a lot -- and to my mind OFTEN EXORBITANTLY -- on its academics. However, just as it isn't the premier CFB program,
it's also not in a class by itself academically.
Yet, as I see it, the same SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT that attaches to the football program is also present on the academic side, leading to a tendency to LOOK DOWN ON other institutions.
But again -- and for the record -- Duke, Northwestern, Vanderbilt and Rice all ranked ahead of ND in the most recent US News & World Report National Universities Survey.
As for the Pomona's of the world, they are surveyed SEPARATELY and do not appear in the National University rankings I'm referencing and, accordingly, have no effect.
Regarding majors available to football players and other athletes, I believe ND's approach is not only SELF-DEFEATINGLY ELITIST but completely out of touch with where the sport is headed.
Whereas what academically highly ranked schools such as USC and Florida are doing strikes me as EMINENTLY SENSIBLE. You accommodate and modify as necessary and with LITTLE TO NO LOSS OF ACADEMIC RANKING.
The shackles ND wears are completley HOMEMADE but, apparently, not too high a price to pay for what it regards as its TRANSCENDENT MISSION.