Dec. 8, 2010

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The University of Southern Mississippi was cited by the American Football Coaches Association as being one of 44 Football Bowl Subdivision schools to graduate 75 percent of its players.

Northwestern and Rice will share the American Football Coaches Asso¬¬ciation's 2010 Aca¬demic Achieve¬ment Award, which is presented by the Touchdown Club of Memphis. Northwestern and Rice recorded a 100 percent graduation rate for members of its freshman football student-athlete class of 2003. This is the sixth honor for Northwestern and the first for Rice since the award's inception. The award will be presented at the AFCA President's Kickoff Luncheon on Monday, January 10 at the 2011 AFCA Convention in Dallas.

Thirteen of the 42 other institutions will be recognized for graduating 75 percent or more of their football student-athletes. Thirteen of those institutions -- Air Force, Army, Boston College, BYU, Duke, Iowa, Marshall, Miami (Fla.), Navy, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Virginia Tech and West Virginia -- achieved a rate of 90 percent or better. The remaining 29 institutions are: Arizona State, Arkansas, Arkansas State, Auburn, Boise State, Cincinnati, Colorado State, Illinois, Kentucky, LSU, Miami (Ohio), Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Southern Miss, SMU, Stanford, Temple, TCU, Texas Tech, UNLV, Utah, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Wake Forest and Washington.

The Academic Achievement Award was established by the College Football Association in 1981. The award recognized the CFA-member FBS institution with the highest graduation rate among members of its football team. When the CFA disbanded in 1997, the AFCA stepped in to present the award and conduct a graduation rate survey that encompassed all members of the FBS.

2010 Conference Breakdown of Winners and Honorable Mentions: ACC- 6, Mountain West- 6, Big 10- 5, SEC- 5, Big East- 4, Big 12- 3, Conference USA- 3, Independents- 3, MAC- 3, Pac-10- 3, WAC- 2, Sun Belt- 1.