Jan. 27, 2010

The University of Notre Dame is ranked 17th overall – and had eight of its Irish sports programs ranked in the top 15 — in STACK magazine’s third annual survey of the colleges and universities with the best combination of academic and athletic excellence.

Published in the magazine’s holiday issue, the STACK Elite 50 College Rankings survey the country’s 50 leading college sports programs based on academics, athletic opportunity and overall performance. The survey also includes specific rankings for 21 sports.

The survey’s methodology included overall academic rankings based upon 2010 U.S. News & World Report’s annual “America’s Best Colleges” survey, athlete graduation rates (the current NCAA Academic Progress Rate figures), national sport-specific rankings (from ’07, ’08 and ’09, based on recognized polls), win-loss records over the last three seasons — and the STACK factor (strength of athletic community in terms of support and prowess through the 21 sports rated).

The top 20 universities are: Stanford, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, USC, Michigan, UCLA, Duke, California, Texas A&M, Virginia, Arizona State, Florida State, Ohio State, Georgia, Penn State, Notre Dame, Maryland, Washington and Connecticut.

The STACK assessment of the Notre Dame program said, “Notre Dame’s ‘Four Horsemen’ for the 21st Century: hockey (#2), women’s soccer (#2), men’s soccer (#3) and lacrosse (#3).”

STACK provides information and entertainment to high school athletes through its magazine, a Web site and other media.

Eight Notre Dame varsity sports programs rank among the top 15 in the country within their respective sports in the STACK survey.

The Irish hockey and women’s soccer programs ranked number two overall in competition with other programs around the country. Men’s soccer and men’s lacrosse both finished third, women’s tennis was ninth, men’s cross country was 10th – and men’s basketball and men’s tennis both stood 15th.

Here are the various tables in which Notre Dame rates mention (individual sports charts included only the top 15 schools):

Top 20 universities overall (with total points listed) — 1. Stanford 100, 2. Florida 84.17, 3. North Carolina 83.17, 4. Texas 72.61, 5. USC 65.08, 6. Michigan 62.06, 7. UCLA 58.67, 8. Duke 54.9, 9. California 46.11, 10. Texas A&M 45.98, 11. Virginia 40.95, 12. (tie) Arizona State and Florida State 34.67 14. Ohio State 34.05, 15. Georgia 31.41, 16. Penn State 30.65, 17. Notre Dame 28.52, 18. Maryland 24.12, 19. Washington 23.49, 20. Connecticut 21.99.

Women’s Soccer – 1. North Carolina, 2. Notre Dame, 3. UCLA, 4. Stanford, 5. USC, 6. Florida State, 7. Florida, 8. Texas A&M, 9. Texas, 10. Virginia, 11. Portland, 12. Duke, 13. Penn State, 14. Oklahoma State, 15. California.

Hockey – 1. Michigan, 2. Notre Dame, 3. Boston University, 4. Miami (Ohio), 5. Boston College, 6. Princeton, 7. Denver, 8. New Hampshire, 9. Minnesota, 10. Yale, 11. Cornell, 12. Michigan State, 13. North Dakota, 14. Colorado College, 15. Vermont.

Men’s Soccer – 1. Wake Forest, 2. Maryland, 3. Notre Dame, 4. Northwestern, 5. Indiana, 6. California, 7. Duke, 8. UNC-Greensboro, 9. Connecticut, 10. Virginia, 11. Harvard, 12. Michigan, 13. Brown, 14. UCLA, 15. Creighton.

Men’s Lacrosse – 1. Duke, 2. Virginia, 3. Notre Dame, 4. Cornell, 5. North Carolina, 6. Johns Hopkins, 7. Princeton, 8. Syracuse, 9. Navy, 10. Maryland, 11. Brown, 12. Colgate, 13.Georgetown, 14. Loyola, 15. Ohio State.

Women’s Tennis – 1. Stanford, 2. California, 3. Florida, 4. Duke, 5. USC, 6. Northwestern, 7. UCLA, 8. Georgia, 9. Notre Dame, 10. Michigan, 10. Georgia, 11. North Carolina, 12. Georgia Tech, 13. Baylor, 14. Miami (Fla.), 15. Vanderbilt.

Men’s Cross Country – 1. Stanford, 2. Wisconsin, 3. Oregon, 4. Virginia, 5. Iona, 6. Georgetown, 7. Colorado, 8. Oklahoma State, 9. William & Mary, 10. Notre Dame, 11. BYU, 12. Minnesota, 13. Washington, 14. Texas, 15. Alabama.

Men’s Tennis – 1. USC, 2. Virginia, 3. Ohio State, 4. UCLA, 5. Georgia, 6. Florida, 7. Texas, 8. North Carolina, 9. Stanford, 10. Michigan, 11. Florida State, 12. Duke, 13. Wake Forest, 14. Illinois, 15. Notre Dame.

Men’s Basketball – 1. North Carolina, 2. UCLA, 3. Kansas, 4. Duke, 5. Memphis, 6. Texas, 7. Michigan State, 8. Pittsburgh, 9. Davidson, 10. Florida, 11. Stanford, 12. Louisville, 13. Wisconsin, 14. Georgetown, 15. Notre Dame.