Earlier this month, the NCAA released the latest multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) figures, which reflect how well each program retains its athletes and keeps them in good academic standing. Many of the usual suspects topped the list; schools with rich academic traditions dominated the top 20 of the FBS leaderboard, joined occasionally by college football bluebloods with the stability and resources to keep athletes from falling through the cracks.
As offseason checkpoints go, this is a pretty minor one, but it will come up again six months from now as the final week of the regular season approaches and some teams are still scraping for the precious sixth win required to receive a bowl bid.