Some good off-field news about the football program

Georgia’s football team had the second-best graduation rate in the SEC, for players who entered between 2000-03.

That’s according to the NCAA’s latest Graduation Success Rate (GSR), which was released on Wednesday. Georgia graduated 68 percent of football players who entered the first four seasons of the last decade, behind only Vanderbilt.

(If any of you want to dispute that 2000 was the beginning of the last decade, and thus we’re actually still in the first decade of the millennium, feel free. After all, this is a post about academics.)

Notre Dame ranked first nationally among football programs, with a GSR of 96 percent.

(Point of contention No. 2: You could also point out that it's gramatically incorrect to refer to it as the "last decade," as in it's not the last, final decade, unless you believe the Mayan calendar and/or the movie "2012.")

The GSR measures athletes who graduate within six years of entering school, and counts transfers in and out of school.

Overall, Bulldog athletes recorded a GSR of 77 percent, up from 75 percent a year ago. Three sports scored 100 percent: Men’s swimming and diving, gymnastics and women’s tennis.

The men’s basketball team was at the low end, at 36 percent. But that was still the best rate that sport recorded in any of the four years the GSR has been recorded.

(Point of contention No. 3: In the previous point of contention, it's possible I mispelled the word 'gramatically.' It's possible there are two 'm's.' I'm checking with my third-grade English teacher, who I believe is dead, so I'm not sure when I'll get an answer.)

The Georgia football team has shown a general improvement: It was at 41 percent in 2007, then 48 percent, and 57 percent last year.

“The overall report is encouraging and it definitely continues an upward trend,” Georgia athletics director Greg McGarity said in a statement. “The improvement by eight of our sports as well as the three that remained at 100% is particularly noteworthy. At the same time, we want to get better and will continue to work hard in the academic area with our student-athletes.”