Five SEC Schools land in Academic BCS Top 25

The College Football Top 25 - As Ranked By Academics

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Alabama is the Southeastern Conference's highest ranked representative in the New American Foundation's top 25 in academic performance rankings.

Vanderbilt, a private school, is not listed because the Foundation relied on public data.

Northwestern University, the 20th-ranked college football team in the nation, won't win a national title on the field this year. But the Wildcats are first in the classroom, according to the "Academic BCS," the New America Foundation's annual academic performance rankings of the top-25 college football teams.

Northwestern's top finish is not surprising. But the New America Foundation's second-best academic team, Northern Illinois — which finished ahead of schools like Notre Dame, which will play for the national championship on Jan. 7 against Alabama, and Stanford — is a more curious case. The Huskies, who earned a bid to the Jan. 1 Orange Bowl, are a surprise both on and off the field.

Original story at TIME.com