Vanderbilt remains the SEC's No. 1 academic school

Not exactly a shocker, but always fun to point out: Vanderbilt remains heads and shoulders above the other universities in the SEC.

U.S. News & World Report ranks Vanderbilt the No. 17 university in the nation, tied with Rice. That would rank Vandy No. 4 in the nation among universities with major college football teams — behind Stanford (5), Duke (9) and Northwestern (12), but ahead of Notre Dame (19), Cal-Berkeley (22), USC (23) and UCLA, Virginia and Wake Forest (tied for 25th).

Here's how the SEC teams rank:

1. Vanderbilt (17)
2. Florida (53)
3. Georgia (56)
4. Alabama (79)
5. Auburn (85)
6. Tennessee (104)
7. South Carolina (111)
8. LSU (124)
9. Kentucky (129)
10. Arkansas (132)
11. Ole Miss (143)
12. Miss State (151)

Sure, we don't recruit the blue chippers that lower rated universities like Alabama and Tennessee do. Part of that is because our football program lacks the tradition, national exposure, fan base and gigantic stadium that those programs do. But we also start with a smaller base of athletes to choose from because our standards are higher.

Remember how Bobby Johnson talked about getting players who wanted both a world-class education and a spot on an SEC football roster?