ESPN Grade's Final Rankings

— -- ESPN Grade launched in August as a new way to think about college football polls -- uniting on-field outcome with educational results.

A top-25 football program's ESPN Grade is calculated by combining its ranking in The Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls, then adding its position in a top 25 sorted by football graduation rates.

So if a university is fifth in one poll, sixth in the other and 10th in graduation rates, its ESPN Grade would be 5 + 6 + 10 = 21.

Only teams receiving a vote in either the AP or Coaches Poll are ranked in ESPN Grade -- it's an academics-adjusted ranking of the power teams, not of all teams in college football.

Statistics come from the Graduation Success Rate as calculated by the NCAA. (Look up any college's GSR.) Statistics employed are from October 2014, the most recent available.

Both the NCAA and the federal Department of Education calculate graduation rates by allowing six academic years, because many students don't complete college in the traditional four years. That means the most recent stats gauge freshmen who entered college as early as 2007.

This is the most generous metric of athletic graduation, granting credit for transfers both in or out. NFL early entrants have little impact on graduation rates -- the most recent year for which statistics have been released had 53 early entrants, about half of 1 percent of upperclassman scholarship players.

Game day, commencement day: Both matter. ESPN Grade takes the next step, integrating win-loss performance with diploma performance.

Ohio State

ESPN Grade: 8

AP Poll Rank: 1 | Coaches Poll Rank: 1 | Graduation Rank: 6

Spectacular recovery from prior scandals -- graduation rate strong, too.

TCU

ESPN Grade: 9

AP Poll Rank: 3 | Coaches Poll Rank: 3 | Graduation Rank: 3

A top-ranked program that also excelled in the classroom was shut out of the initial College Football Playoff. What does that tell you about the new CFP?

Alabama

ESPN Grade: 13

AP Poll Rank: 4 | Coaches Poll Rank: 4 | Graduation Rank: 5

Crimson Tide runs out of gas on the field but posts respectable classroom performance.

Oregon

ESPN Grade: 15

AP Poll Rank: 2 | Coaches Poll Rank: 2 | Graduation Rank: 11

On the field the Ducks are entertainment personified, but James Marshall Crotty shows that Ohio State " crushes Oregon in the classroom."

UCLA

ESPN Grade: 21

AP Poll Rank: 10 | Coaches Poll Rank: 10 | Graduation Rank: 1

Boosters in an uproar about Bruins' loss to Stanford -- should be beaming over combination of 10-3 record and 88 percent grad rate.

Michigan State

ESPN Grade: 22

AP Poll Rank: 5 | Coaches Poll Rank: 5 | Graduation Rank: 12

Jim Harbaugh's University of Michigan is the state's prestige campus -- but Michigan State football posts the same grad rate as the Wolverines.

Baylor

ESPN Grade: 24

AP Poll Rank: 7 | Coaches Poll Rank: 8 | Graduation Rank: 9

Baylor got knocked down in the polls by its bowl upset -- buoyed up a bit here by its grad rank.

Georgia

ESPN Grade: 26

AP Poll Rank: 9 | Coaches Poll Rank: 9 | Graduation Rank: 8

A decade ago, Bulldogs' football diploma rate was under 50 percent. Steady improvement since.

Florida State

ESPN Grade: 31

AP Poll Rank: 5 | Coaches Poll Rank: 6 | Graduation Rank: 20

Many allegations regarding Seminoles players' behavior join the hard fact: data show inferior classroom performance.

Georgia Tech

ESPN Grade: 31

AP Poll Rank: 8 | Coaches Poll Rank: 7 | Graduation Rank: 16

Such a strong academic college should feel uneasy with its football program being so weak in the classroom.

Boise State

ESPN Grade: 34

AP Poll Rank: 16 | Coaches Poll Rank: 16 | Graduation Rank: 2

The power conferences do their best to isolate Boise State, which doubly embarrasses them by winning and by having strong graduation results.

Clemson

ESPN Grade: 34

AP Poll Rank: 15 | Coaches Poll Rank: 15 | Graduation Rank: 4

Boosters dancing about season-ending crushing of Oklahoma. Let's hear it for the high Clemson graduation rate.

Missouri

ESPN Grade: 34

AP Poll Rank: 14 | Coaches Poll Rank: 11 | Graduation Rank: 9

Supposedly college football is about the classroom. Here's what game financial details look like.

Arizona State

ESPN Grade: 38

AP Poll Rank: 12 | Coaches Poll Rank: 14 | Graduation Rank: 12

In Sun Bowl, Arizona State barely bested Duke. In classroom, Duke blows Arizona State off the field.

Mississippi State

ESPN Grade: 39

AP Poll Rank: 11 | Coaches Poll Rank: 12 | Graduation Rank: 16

Boosters complain about the on-field fade. What matters long-term is that the football grad rate of 66 percent is unimpressive.

Wisconsin

ESPN Grade: 40

AP Poll Rank: 13 | Coaches Poll Rank: 13 | Graduation Rank: 14

Gary Andersen skedaddled complaining that Wisconsin's classroom emphasis was bad for football -- and left behind a weak grad rate.

Kansas State

ESPN Grade: 52

AP Poll Rank: 18 | Coaches Poll Rank: 18 | Graduation Rank: 16

Bill Snyder says big-college football is "sold out" to TV revenue -- coach, first clean up your own house.

Arizona 

ESPN Grade: 57

AP Poll Rank: 19 | Coaches Poll Rank: 17 | Graduation Rank: 21

Ended season with consecutive losses to colleges with superior football grad rates.

Memphis

ESPN Grade: 57

AP Poll Rank: 25 | Coaches Poll Rank: 25 | Graduation Rank: 7

Memphis got the dreaded "Rank Not Published" in US News, meaning the college is bottom of the barrel. At least it broke into the football rankings.

Utah

ESPN Grade: 57

AP Poll Rank: 21 | Coaches Poll Rank: 20 | Graduation Rank: 16

Merely a nine-win season has boosters booing the athletic director. Get your priorities straight -- the Utes program is poor in the classroom.

Auburn

ESPN Grade: 60

AP Poll Rank: 22 | Coaches Poll Rank: 23 | Graduation Rank: 15

Classroom improvement needed, but reasonable bounce-back from this embarrassing 2011 headline.

Ole Miss

ESPN Grade: 61

AP Poll Rank: 17 | Coaches Poll Rank: 19 | Graduation Rank: 25

So the Rebels honked out in their bowl game. A terrible football graduation rate means far more over the long run.

USC

ESPN Grade: 65

AP Poll Rank: 20 | Coaches Poll Rank: 21 | Graduation Rank: 24

Grandees on the USC Board of Trustees should be ashamed that the football program exploits players without graduating them.

Marshall

ESPN Grade: 67

AP Poll Rank: 23 | Coaches Poll Rank: 22 | Graduation Rank: 22

Marshall posted slightly better offensive stats than Oregon. If only its classroom stats were impressive.

Louisville

ESPN Grade: 71

AP Poll Rank: 24 | Coaches Poll Rank: 24 | Graduation Rank: 23

Bobby Petrino is back -- what could go wrong next? In addition to low graduation ranking, that is.