Off-the-field stats

The NCAA's second year of Academic Progress Rates (APR) are in, and the numbers are not good for some OVC football teams, but great for a couple others.

UT-Martin, Murray State and Jacksonville State each will have to give up 6.3 scholarship equivalencies because their APR numbers were below the NCAA standard of 925. That's 10 percent of their I-AA maximum of 63.

Samford's and Eastern Kentucky's scores each were among the top 10 percent among all Division I football teams. Good on ya, Bulldogs & Colonels.

The NCAA Web site describes APR as a "picture of the current academic 'culture' in each sport, and includes eligibility, retention, and graduation as factors in the rate calculation."

APR results for all NCAA schools are available at the NCAA Web site's academic reform section.

APR numbers for each OVC football school (including Austin Peay State, which re-joins the league in 2007), are pasted below. Tennessee Tech and Southeast Missouri fell below the 925 mark, but will not be penalized -- if I understand the NCAA explanation correctly -- because neither team had 30 of the same players on its squad for the two years of data measured. Austin Peay will not be penalized because its football team's APR is higher than that of its student body.

School          APR    Scholarship penalty
Samford         992
EKU             979
EIU             930
Tenn State      927
Tenn Tech       914
SE Missouri     910
Austin Peay     896
UT-Martin       880     6.3
Murray State    850     6.3
Jax State       849     6.3