Northwestern may face challenges on the football field, but the Wildcats are kings of the classroom.

The NCAA released its annual graduation success rates Thursday, and NU came in with 97 percent —   the top of the list among all universities in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Immediately following the Cats are the Rice University Owls with a rate of 95 percent. No other Big Ten team cracked the top 10, and the national average is 71 percent.

The rankings are based on student-athletes who entered college in 2006 and the three previous years. NU has boasted a sterling record in the past, recording the same rate in last year’s report. The Cats have continued to improve their own mark. For cohort year 2002, which includes the student-athletes who entered in that year and since 1999, NU graduated 92 percent of the purple and white.

Overall, all the Cats combined for a matching 97 percent rate among all athletic squads, including 12 teams with a perfect 100 percent rate.

— Steven Montero