From the helmet to the mortarboard

The University of Alabama has the fifth-worst graduation rate for football players in NCAA Division I-A football. Or at least it did for players who enrolled between 1995 and 1998, when the six-year rate was 39 percent according to the NCAA's new formula. A UA athletics official said coaching changes and NFL departures who graduated outside the window account for part of the low score and said the historical rate will improve next year.

Also notable, from The Birmingham News: "In football, six of the eight teams playing in next month's Bowl Championship Series games fell below the sport's 65 percent average."