Boston College and Navy, which are meeting in the Meineke Car Care Bowl, had the best Academic Progress Rates of any bowl-bound programs (Navy with 986, BC with 982).
Seven of the eight Atlantic Coast Conference teams in bowls made Lapchick’s top 25 academically: Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, Wake Forest. The lone exception was among ACC bowl teams Virginia Tech.
The APR was developed in 2004 and awards points based on how many scholarship athletes meet academic eligibility standards. A cutoff score of 925 means an estimated 50 percent of those athletes are on track to graduate. Twenty-four schools this year fell below that rate, and that will eventually lead to stiff penalties.
“As our reforms continue to take hold, we expect to see higher levels of improvement and achievement in the overall academic success of our student-athletes,” the NCAA said in a written statement. “This is critical, because very few of them will become professional athletes.”
Forty-eight schools graduated two-thirds or more of their White players, but just 18 met that mark for Black players. Twelve schools graduated less than 40 percent of their Black football players, while no program fell below that standard for White players.
Troy was the only bowl school that graduated more Black players than White (by 9 percentage points).
--Associated Press
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