Thursday Afternoon Linkage

• It’s meaningless and inherently flawed, but quick…name the SEC school ranked highest in the New America Foundation’s 2nd Annual BCS Academic Standings. For the 99 percent of you that said Vanderbilt, you’re wrong. It’s Ole Miss.

The NFA’s formula starts with the team's most recent federal graduation rate, which includes four classes of players who entered college between 1998 and 2001 and graduated within six years of initial enrollment. Then, each team gains or loses points based on (A) the gap between the team's graduation rate and the overall school's graduation rate and (B) the gap between the team's black-white player graduation rate disparity and the overall school's disparity. Finally, the team gains or loses points if its Academic Progress Rate exceeds or falls below the Division I-A median.

•  Chris Low runs down the Top 25 players in the SEC. Alabama leads the way with seven. Florida, Georgia, and Ole Miss check in with three a piece, while LSU and Tennessee have two each.
• Auburn’s questionable hire of Gene Chizik has raised more than a few eyebrows across the SEC and the blogosphere (I know, who knew?). Pat Forde grades the recent SEC hires and drops this gem:

""Maybe Chizik will be the next Bill Parcells. He went 3-8 in his first year as a head coach, at the Air Force Academy in 1978 before turning out all right. But until that happens, this has the makings of the worst hire in SEC history.""

Dan Wetzel shares a similar viewpoint.

• Jason Whitlock is dead on again. While race may or may not have been a determining factor in Auburn’s passing on the more-talented Turner Gill for the Ed Orgeron Redux that is Gene Chizik, Auburn may not have been the right fit for Gill at this point of his career.