Michigan wins CBS Sports' 'Best in College Sports' award for '21-22 season
The University of Michigan enjoyed resounding athletic success during the 2021-2022 academic year and was recognized nationally for its achievements.
CBS Sports announced on Monday that U-M had won its 'Best in College Sports' award this year, beating out Notre Dame (No. 2), Ohio State (No. 3) and North Carolina (No. 4) in the rankings.
According to CBS Sports, the award was weighted by the following formula.
The National Association of College Directors of Athletics (NACDA) has ranked athletic programs for years by weighing every sport equally. (For example: National titles in football and water polo are worth the same number of points.) In 2013, CBS Sports began presenting its Best in College Sports award utilizing a weighted formula that recognizes sports with more broad interest. Every FBS program is rated in three sports -- football, men's basketball and women's basketball -- along with two "wild cards" among the school's most successful spectator sports: baseball, softball, volleyball, soccer, gymnastics, lacrosse, hockey and wrestling.
The weighted formula puts 2.5 times as much emphasis on football and 2.0 times as much on men's basketball compared to the rest of the sports. Teams that do not finish in the final AP Top 25 in football but play in a bowl are awarded 62.5 points (25 x 2.5). (Teams that either opted out of bowl games or saw postseason contests canceled received 62.5 points in football.) Those that make the men's NIT are given 20 points (10 x 2), while WNIT teams receive 10 points. For all titles settled via bracket, such as the NCAA Tournament, point totals are based on number of participants. All champions in the other sports receive 100 points for a national championship.
The Wolverines finished the football season with a 12-2 record that included a Big Ten Championship and the program's first birth to the College Football Playoff. The men's basketball program achieved a Sweet Sixteen birth and the women's basketball program reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
On top of that, both men's and women's gymnastics saw success, hockey reached the Frozen Four and much more.
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