LSU’s football graduation rates rank No. 2 in SEC

For the second straight year, LSU posted the second-highest graduation rate among Southeastern Conference football teams, according to the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate data.

LSU’s overall student-athlete mark also reached an all-time high, according to the NCAA data, which was released Thursday.

LSU’s highest-ranked team was women’s basketball, which was tied with six other schools at the top of the SEC with a perfect Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 100. It is the second straight year that the LSU women’s basketball team scored 100.

LSU football’s GSR of 77 trails only Vanderbilt’s mark of 85 in the SEC. The only other SEC football programs with GSR scores above 70 are Alabama and Florida at 75 each.

LSU’s overall student-athlete GSR mark is 80, the highest mark for LSU since the GSR was introduced in 2005. It represents a two-point increase over last year and an 11-point increase since 2008.

“We strive to have programs that perform at the highest level both in competition and in the classroom, and the performance of our student-athletes exemplifies the accomplishment of that goal,” Athletic Director Joe Alleva said in a statement. “The hard work of our student-athletes, along with the leadership our coaches, the dedication of our academic support staff and the work of the faculty and staff at LSU have made it possible to strike that important balance of athletics and academic achievement.”

LSU football’s score of 77 is well above the national mark of 68 for all Football Bowl Subdivision schools. The NCAA began reporting the GSR in 2006, and the LSU football program has shown improvement with each year’s report, going from 51 in 2006 and 2007 to 54 in 2008; 60 in 2009; 67 in 2010 and 77 each of the last two years.

The LSU men’s swimming and diving program tied for second in the SEC with a score of 90. Other LSU sports with scores of 75 or above were volleyball at 92; gymnastics at 91; women’s golf at 89; women’s swimming and diving and women’s tennis at 88; softball at 83; women’s track & field at 79; men’s tennis at 78; and soccer at 76.

LSU’s largest increase in scores over the previous year were posted in men’s swimming and diving (from 74 in 2011 to 90 this year) and baseball (from 60 in 2011 to 70 this year).

The most recent Division I Graduation Success Rates are based on the four entering classes from 2002-2003 through 2005-06. The NCAA began compiling these figures with the entering freshmen class of 1995.