By MTAthletics

WACO, Texas — Middle Tennessee, Cincinnati, Maryland, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, and Temple will share the American Football Coaches Association’s 2025 Academic Achievement Award. The Memphis Touchdown Club presents the annual award, which is sponsored by BSN Sports.

All seven schools shared the highest graduation rate for members of their 2018 freshman football student-athlete classes. This is Northwestern’s 13th honor, Notre Dame’s 12th, and Cincinnati’s, Middle Tennessee’s, and Pittsburgh’s second, while Maryland and Temple are receiving the award for the first time.

Middle Tennessee football head coach Derek Mason and the head coaches of all the winning schools will be honored during the 2026 AFCA Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sunday, Jan. 11.

This year’s award marks the 14th time the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate, or GSR, one-year formula has been used to select the winner.

From 1981 to 2007, the award was presented based on a formula used by the College Football Association and the AFCA. From 2008-17, the criteria for the AFCA’s Academic Achievement Award was based on the highest NCAA GSR, and a Federal Graduation Rate of 75% or better. For 2018 and 2019, the AFCA used the NCAA’s single-year Academic Progress Rate, or APR. The AFCA returned to the GSR one-year formula in 2022.

The GSR is based on a six-year graduation window for student-athletes and holds institutions accountable for transfer students, unlike the federal graduation rate. The GSR also accounts for midyear enrollees and nonscholarship students at schools that do not offer athletics aid. Under GSR calculation, institutions are not penalized for outgoing transfer students who leave in good academic standing. These outgoing transfers are passed to the receiving institution’s GSR cohort.

The Academic Achievement Award was established by the College Football Association in 1981. The award recognized the CFA-member Football Bowl Subdivision institution with the highest graduation rate among members of its football team. When the CFA disbanded in 1997, the AFCA stepped in to present the award.

Most awards: Duke, 14; Northwestern, 13; Notre Dame, 12; Boston College, 5; Stanford, 5; Vanderbilt, 5; Virginia, 5; Clemson, 4; Air Force, 3; Rice, 3.

See the full list of winners from previous years at goblueraiders.com.