How FBS Schools Rank Academically According to U.S. News

Each year the news periodical U.S. News and World Report issues a ranking of supposedly all the colleges and universities in the country.

How they rank these colleges is often debatable, and definitely controversial. For proof of the controversy, one needs to look no further than the President of the University of Florida, Bernie Machen.

So whether you buy into the rankings or not, there is at the very least some admitted concern over how the rankings are achieved.

U.S. News places the schools that make up the FBS in one of three categories, although they have more categories for other colleges. The categories we will list here are National Colleges/Universities, National Liberal Art Colleges/Universities and Regional Colleges/University. Regional schools are broken down into regional categories such as West and South.

Some schools did not have their ranking released by U.S. News, and will be listed here as "unranked."

One other small note, schools that have announced their intentions to move up to FBS football from FCS football have been included in these rankings and will appear in the list according to their rank and category.

So without further adieu, here are the rankings according to U.S. News.

NATIONAL COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY

Stanford: 5

Duke: 9

Northwestern: 12

Rice: 17 (tie)

Vanderbilt: 17 (tie)

Notre Dame: 19

California: 22

USC: 23

UCLA: 25 (tie)

Wake Forest: 25 (tie)

UVA: 25 (tie)

Michigan: 29

UNC: 30

Boston College: 31

Georgia Tech: 35

Washington: 41

Texas: 45 (tie)

Wisconsin: 45 (tie)

Miami (FL): 47 (tie)

Penn St: 47 (tie)

Illinois: 47 (tie)

Tulane: 51

Florida: 53

Syracuse: 55

Maryland: 56 (tie)

Georgia: 56 (tie)

Ohio State: 56 (tie)

Purdue: 56 (tie)

SMU: 56 (tie)

Texas A&M: 63

Clemson: 64 (tie)

Minnesota: 64 (tie)

Pitt: 64 (tie)

Rutgers: 64 (tie)

UConn: 69 (tie)

Virginia Tech: 69 (tie)

Iowa: 72

BYU: 75 (tie)

Indiana: 75 (tie)

Baylor: 79 (tie)

Miami (OH): 79 (tie)

Michigan State: 79 (tie)

Alabama: 79 (tie)

Auburn: 85

Colorado: 86

Tulsa: 93

Iowa State: 94 (tie)

Missouri: 94 (tie)

TCU: 99 (tie)

*UMass: 99 (tie)

Florida State: 104 (tie)

Kansas: 104 (tie)

Nebraska: 104 (tie)

Tennessee: 104 (tie)

NC State: 111 (tie)

South Carolina: 111 (tie)

Oklahoma: 111 (tie)

Oregon: 111 (tie)

Washington State: 111 (tie)

Arizona: 120 (tie)

Buffalo: 120 (tie)

Colorado State: 124 (tie)

LSU: 124 (tie)

Ohio: 124 (tie)

Kentucky: 129 (tie)

Utah: 129 (tie)

Arkansas: 132 (tie)

Kansas State: 132 (tie)

Oklahoma State: 132 (tie)

Temple: 132 (tie)

Oregon State: 139

Arizona State: 143 (tie)

Ole Miss: 143 (tie)

Miss State: 151 (tie)

Alabama-Birmingham: 151 (tie)

Idaho: 153 (tie)

Wyoming: 153 (tie)

Cincinnati: 156

Texas Tech: 159 (tie)

Hawaii: 159 (tie)

Bowling Green: 170 (tie)

Utah State: 170 (tie)

West Virginia: 176 (tie)

Louisville: 176 (tie)

Ball State: 179 (tie)

Central Florida: 179 (tie)

Western Michigan: 179 (tie)

Kent State: 183 (tie)

San Diego State: (tie)

South Florida: 183 (tie)

Nevada: 191

Akron: unranked

Central Michigan: unranked

ECU: unranked

FIU: unranked

FAU: unranked

Houston: unranked

UL-Lafayette: unranked

Louisiana Tech: unranked

Memphis: unranked

New Mexico State: unranked

Northern Illinois: unranked

UNLV: unranked

New Mexico: unranked

North Texas: unranked

Southern Miss: unranked

UTEP: unranked

Toledo: unranked

NATIONAL LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY

Army: 16 (tie)

Navy: 16 (tie)

REGIONAL COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY

Air Force: 1 regional: west

Western Kentucky: 35  regional: south

Texas State: 40 regional: west

San Jose: 44 regional: west

Fresno State: 44 regional: west

Marshall: 47 regional: south

Boise State: 51 regional: west

South Alabama: 52 regional: south

Middle Tennessee: 56 regional: south

Arkansas State: 58 regional: south

Texas-San Antonio: 62 regional: west

Troy: 65 regional: south

Eastern Michigan: 81 regional: Midwest

UL-Monroe: unranked regional: south