Athletic-Academic Comparison of BCS Conferences

I am a curious man. When I ask myself a question that has an answer that can be discerned with relative ease, I try my best to answer it. With that as a backdrop, I've always held the belief that the Big Ten is the best conference in the country when it comes to a combination of athletics and academics. The only conference I think could hold a candle to the Big Ten is the Pac-10, but I've always thought the Pac-10 was very top-heavy in both academics and athletics, whereas the Big Ten is more consistent throughout.

Thus, I have done such a comparison of the BCS conferences. I have run the numbers for all 65 BCS schools (for the Big East, I included only the football schools), and come to some extremely useful conclusions about which conferences are the smartest, dumbest, most athletic, least athletic, and best all around.

For athletic information, I looked at NCAA championships, which are available here:

http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/champs_records_book/summaries/combined.pdf

The data is through the 2008-2009 season. And yes, I realize it's a little unfair because some schools have a lot more sports than others. But, if we're looking at athletics, then a school that excels at many sports is still better athletically than a school that doesn't excel at sports it doesn't have. Also, remember that there is no Division 1-A NCAA championship in football.

For academics, I looked at the US News and World Reports College Rankings from this past year, which are available here:

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/national-universities-rankings

Because I am awesome and painfully detail-oriented, I came up with two rankings:
(1) Raw Ranking. Here, I will add a conference's average overall D-1 NCAA championship rank plus its average overall US News rank, and lowest total score wins. For instance, Arizona State ranks 18th in number of NCAA titles and 121st by US News. Thus, Arizona State's raw total would be 139.
(2) Relative Ranking. Here, I will remove the non-BCS schools from both categories and rank each school 1-65 in both categories. For instance, Arizona State's relative ranking for NCAA titles is 16th and for academics is 52nd. Thus, Arizona State's relative total would be 68.

There are 169 schools that have won a Division 1 national title. Thus, if a school has no national championships, then they receive a 170 as a raw athletic score (and 60 for the relative athletic score). There are 133 schools that receive a numerical ranking in US News. If a school is ranked in Tier 3, it is ranked between 134 and 200, so the average is 167, which will be a Tier 3 school's raw academic score (and 56 as a relative academic score). There are no BCS schools ranked lower than Tier 3.

Rather than bore you with all of the gruesome details, here are the rankings:

Raw Athletic (this number represents the average overall ranking of a conference's members' national titles)
1. Big Ten – 29.91
2. Pac-10 – 33.4
3. Big XII – 60.17
4. ACC – 70.33
5. SEC – 70.5
6. Big East – 96.38

Raw Academic (this number represents the average overall US News ranking of a conference's members)
1. ACC – 48.67
2. Big Ten – 50.18
3. Pac-10 – 72.8
4. SEC – 103.33
5. Big XII – 104.17
6. Big East – 114.25

Raw Overall
1. Big Ten – 80.09
Best school: Michigan – 37 (10 athletic; 27 academic)
Worst school: Purdue – 156 (95 athletic; 61 academic)
2. Pac-10 – 106.2
Best school: Stanford – 6 (2 athletic; 4 academic)
Worst school: Oregon State – 250 (83 athletic; 167 academic)
3. ACC – 119
Best school: North Carolina – 37 (9 athletic; 28 academic)
Worst school: Virginia Tech – 241 (170 athletic; 71 academic)
4. Big XII – 164.33
Best school: Texas – 54 (7 athletic; 47 academic)
Worst school: Kansas State – 337 (170 athletic; 167 academic)
5. SEC – 173.83
Best school: Georgia – 72 (14 athletic; 58 academic)
Worst school: Mississippi and Mississippi State – 337 (170 athletic; 167 academic)
6. Big East – 210.63
Best school: Syracuse – 96 (38 athletic; 58 academic)
Worst school: South Florida – 337 (170 athletic; 167 academic)

Top 10 Overall schools
1. Stanford – 6 (2 athletic; 4 academic)
2. UCLA – 25 (1 athletic; 24 academic)
3. Southern California – 29 (3 athletic; 26 academic)
4. California – 32 (11 athletic; 21 academic)
5 (tie). Michigan – 37 (10 athletic; 27 academic)
5 (tie). North Carolina – 37 (9 athletic; 28 academic)
7. Wisconsin – 53 (14 athletic; 39 academic)
8. Texas – 54 (7 athletic; 47 academic)
9 (tie). Duke – 55 (45 athletic; 10 academic)
9 (tie). Penn State – 55 (8 athletic; 47 academic)

Worst 10 Overall schools
1 (tie.) Kansas State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, and South Florida – 337 (170 athletic; 167 academic)
5. Texas Tech – 294 (127 athletic; 167 academic)
6 (tie). Cincinnati and Louisville – 262 (95 athletic; 167 academic)
8. Oregon State – 250 (83 athletic; 167 academic)
9. Virginia Tech – 241 (170 athletic; 71 academic)
10. South Carolina – 237 (127 athletic; 110 academic)

Relative Athletic
1. Pac-10 – 21.4
2. Big Ten – 21.45
3. Big XII – 32.75
4. SEC – 34.33
5. ACC – 38.25
6. Big East – 45.25

Relative Academic
1. ACC – 19.5
2. Big Ten – 20.55
3. Pac-10 – 28.7
4. Big XII – 41
5. SEC – 41.33
6. Big East – 41.38

Relative Overall
1. Big Ten – 42
Best school: Michigan – 19 (10 athletic; 9 academic)
Worst school: Purdue – 74 (48 athletic; 26 academic)
2. Pac-10 – 50.1
Best school: Stanford – 3 (2 athletic; 1 academic)
Worst school: Oregon State – 101 (45 athletic; 56 academic)
3. ACC – 57.75
Best school: North Carolina – 19 (9 athletic; 10 academic)
Worst school: Virginia Tech – 92 (60 athletic; 32 academic)
4. Big XII – 73.75
Best school: Texas – 24 (7 athletic; 27 academic)
Worst school: Kansas State – 116 (60 athletic; 56 academic)
5. SEC – 75.67
Best school: Georgia – 36 (12 athletic; 24 academic)
Worst school: Mississippi and Mississippi State – 337 116 (60 athletic; 56 academic)
6. Big East – 86.63
Best school: Syracuse – 55 (31 athletic; 24 academic)
Worst school: South Florida – 116 (60 athletic; 56 academic)

Top 10 Overall schools
1. Stanford – 3 (2 athletic; 1 academic)
2. UCLA – 7 (1 athletic; 6 academic)
3. Southern California – 11 (3 athletic; 8 academic)
4. California – 16 (11 athletic; 5 academic)
5 (tie). Michigan – 19 (10 athletic; 9 academic)
5 (tie). North Carolina – 19 (9 athletic; 10 academic)
7. Texas – 24 (7 athletic; 27 academic)
8. Penn State – 25 (8 athletic; 17 academic)
9. Wisconsin – 26 (12 athletic; 14 academic)
10. Virginia – 32 (26 athletic; 6 academic)

Worst 10 Overall schools
1 (tie.) Kansas State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, and South Florida – 116 (60 athletic; 56 academic)
5. Texas Tech – 111 (55 athletic; 56 academic)
6. South Carolina – 105 (55 athletic; 50 academic)
7 (tie). Cincinnati and Louisville – 104 (48 athletic; 56 academic)
9. Oregon State – 101 (45 athletic; 56 academic)
10. Washington State – 96 (48 athletic; 48 academic)

Hypothesis proven.