College Sports Integral in Admission Rates

A college sports team is the most powerful marketing tool a university can have in increasing freshmen applicant rates. College sports fans have proven that their interest in a team's athletic prowess often leads to their decision to apply to that respective university. A recent article in the Boston Globe (here) showed that since joining the ACC, Boston College's admission rates from the 6 ACC states (FL,GA,MD,NC,SC,VA) have shot up 30%. In addition to this recent surge, BC saw a sharp rise in applicants after Doug Flutie won the Heisman trophy in 1984, commonly dubbed "the Flutie effect. " (see link for other positive affects sports teams have on colleges). Through their involvement in the conference, BC has a much larger footprint in this part of the country than it ever did before," states one resident of NC, and graduate of UNC Chapel hill.

Theres more too this correlation, however, than the assumption that these students want to go to BC, or any other school just to watch sports games. Theres a psychology behind it that when a student watches an athletic team dominate on the sports field, they believe that carries over into the classroom. Michael Lovagliaa (University of Iowa), has studied the topic in depth: "There's a halo effect," he says. You think about them, so you assume the school must be good. But you may have thought about them only because they were beating your favorite team." Students take pride in their respective institutions accomplishments around the country. Sports, with its national TV and media coverage, is such a large part of that accomplishment. University of Miami's string of national football championships has been largely responsible for putting the school on the map, especially in far away areas, like the northeast, where the school draws an incredible amount of applicants each year.


But don't think the idea that college athletics has the ultimate say in whether or not a student attends the school. Its really other factors, primarily academics, that persuade students to matriculate. University of Miami doesn't fall short of this standard either, ranked 52nd in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. I know that personally, while I enjoy attending UM's sporting events and being a 'Cane, coming here wouldn't have been an option without its commensurate academic reputation. This stands true for most students--it starts with the sports team, which then leads to a campus visit thats sparks even more interest by showing a complete picture of what a school has to offer. After all, UM has much more to offer then just good sports teams.

South Florida Is For Real

When I was in high school I used to attend a team football camp every summer at the University of South Florida headed by Bull's Head Coach Jim Leavitt. At that time, they were just a small team in Conference USA that few cared about. If you were to ask me if there was any chance of the Bulls being ranked in the top 25 within the foreseeable future, I would have laughed in your face. If you were to ask me if the Bulls were going to be ranked, with the Miami Hurricanes NOT ranked in the polls, I would have told you to check-in to a mental hospital. Well, not only are the Bulls ranked and sitting on top of the Big East Conference, but after No.18 South Florida's 21-13 victory over powerhouse No. 5 West Virginia in front of a national television audience, the jokes are over for South Florida.


ESPN.com's Ivan Maisel was telling Bulls fans to act like they've been there before, before quickly realizing the school has never "been there" before. In front of a sellout 67,018 fans at Raymond James Stadium (their first in school history), the Bulls pulled off the biggest victory in their schools short football history.

As St. Petersburg Times writer John Romano says, this will be remembered as the game that introduced South Florida to the world.


South Florida's fast defense kept them in a sloppy ball game, with a total of 10 turnovers, 6 coming from West Virginia. The Mountaineers came into the game averaging 357 yards on the ground in their first four games, with talented players in QB Pat White, and RB's Steve Slaton and Noel Devine. Against South Florida they were only able to muster 188 rushing yards. On offense, Bulls Quarterback Matt Grothe and tailbacks Jamar Taylor and Mike Ford did just enough to take down the Mountaineers for the second year in a row. Last year when the Bulls won in Morgantown, it was called a fluke. With a win in back-to-back years over the Mountaineers, and an early road win over Auburn in week 2, South Florida has a chance at not only being in BCS bowl discussion, but even National Championship discussion.


But the person who definitely deserves most of the praise for this win is Bull's head coach Jim Leavitt. At that same football camp I mentioned earlier which I attended six years ago, I had the chance to learn from the Bull's only coach in school history. At that time he knew that his program was on the rise, and hoped that one day would reach the top of college football.

Well, Jim, with you new ranking this week at No.6 -- your well on your way.

Is 27 a slap in the face?

With week four's AP and USA Today poll making its debut the Hurricanes are (for once surprisingly) not in the top-25. With this past Thursday's win, it seems to me that the U deserves a little bit of respect. No only did we seriously beat up on a team that was No. 20 at the time but our defense held them to 38 yards in the first half. If you ask me, the 27 ranking we have after this week is ridiculous. The only loss we have this year is to the now No. 3 Oklahoma team who have a better than good shot at playing for the national championship. Still ranked are Nebraska who lost to a lowly Ball State team, Penn State who lost to an unimpressive Michigan Team, and Alabama who lost to a Georgia team who although may be formidable opponents, have a loss and have had much closer games with ranked (and unranked) opponents. Up until the last quarter this game was all Hurricanes. Kyle Wright played one of the best games he has ever played completing almost 81% of his passes for 2 touchdowns and no picks. The defense did more than their part as usual and for once the 'Canes offense looked like a Division 1-A powerhouse rather than a pop-warner team from the suburbs.

Against the Hurricanes, the Aggies' high powered offense, who have scored at least 38 in every game until their loss to the 'Canes, were held to 240 total yards. Even more surprising (or not) is that the trio of rushers that the Aggies have been using rather effectively thus far (Stephen McGee (quarterback), Mike Goodson, and Jorvorskie Lane) were held to only 21 yards in the first half and 69 rushing yards for the whole game. This should be a wake up call to the Hurricanes Defense; if the d-line can stop the run and force a team, especially one like A&M to throw the ball, their secondary will back them up. Some people may be talking about the apparent melt down that the Hurricanes suffered in the fourth quarter, but maybe the defense was just not used to playing so late in the game with so much energy because the offense actually gave them a chance to rest.

Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione was quoted in an ESPN article as saying "We just got beat, got beat by a better team." If a coach of a top 20 school can see that the Hurricanes are indeed a better team then why cant the AP and USA today? Down the line the Aggies play 4 now ranked teams, including Oklahoma in early November. We will really see what the Aggies are made of when they are playing ranked opponents down the stretch after pleanty of practice time.

This victory on the last Thursday the 'Canes will ever play in the Orange Bowl was only the second in the past 9 games against ranked opponents. After a victory like this and the only loss being to a contender for the national championship, there is really only one question that a Miami fan can ask; what the hell is wrong with the ranking system. Just as I stated earlier, there are so many teams that are ranked that do not deserve to be and the coaches know it. I think that more of the country should listen to A&M's coach and realize that this is the U and we are on our way to a comeback.