We're just days away from the much anticipated showdown between LSU and Alabama.
But just last week came some off the field news that we can all be proud of. The NCAA released the graduation success rates for college athletes and the LSU Football Program had the second highest in the SEC at 77 percent, trailing only Vanderbilt.
That 77 percent graduation rate is not only second in the SEC, it's 10 points above the national average. It's also a tremendous improvement from when the rates were first calculated in 2006, when LSU's stood at only 51 percent.
So while the spotlight will be on this weekend's epic showdown, we'd like to say hats off to everyone involved at LSU for an academic job well done off the field.
We have an incredible passion for football, making it easy to forget that these are student-athletes and that priority number one should be a quality education and successful completion of a degree.
And just in case you're wondering, Alabama's graduation rate, 69 percent. An eight point victory sounds good for Saturday too, don't you think?
I'm James Smith.
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