Penn just might have the smartest football team

Every academic year, the NCAA releases a list of Academic Progress Rates for its member schools. Each team on each school is rated based on the academic eligibility and retention of its scholarship athletes over the past four-year period. If a team receives a score of 925 (out of a possible 1,000), just 50 percent of its members are expected to graduate.

Out of the 224 Division I football programs, the Quakers scored the highest with a 998--though they were hardly Penn's highest-rated team. In fact, many of Penn's female athletes fared better; of the nine Penn programs to score a perfect 1000, men's cross country was the lone representative from the men's side (the others are field hockey, women's fencing, women's golf, gymnastics, women's lacrosse, women's rowing, women's swimming, women's tennis).

With a score of 978, men's basketball had Penn's second-lowest APR. But the dubious distinction of last-place was given to the men's fencing team.