Below is the top 40 from US News and World Report. If you are looking to cultivate the elite academic reputation of the BIG, a list similar to this is where you start. Those interested in academics first, will advocate for approaching ND, Texas, and Florida behind the scenes. If they say no, then we move to 20 and stop. This is the reason why UNC and UVA keep being mentioned. The conference might decide to go with FSU or TA&M, but some good football programs are on the list below, and they will also get consideration.
By the way, it's a damn impressive list and it's awesome to see us on it!!!
Princeton University (1)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2)
Harvard University (3)
Stanford University (4)
Yale University (5)
University of Pennsylvania (6)
California Institute of Technology (7)
Duke University (7)
Brown University (9)
Johns Hopkins University (9)
Northwestern University (9)
Columbia University (12)
Cornell University (12)
University of Chicago (12)
University of California Berkeley (15)
University of California Los Angeles (15)
Rice University (17)
Dartmouth College (18)
Vanderbilt University (18)
University of Notre Dame (20)
University of Michigan (21)
Georgetown University (22)
University of North Carolina (22)
Carnegie Mellon University (24)
Emory University (24)
University of Virginia (24)
Washington University in St. Louis(24)
University of California, Davis (28)
University of California, San Diego (28)
University of Florida (28)
University of Southern California (28)
University of Texas (32)
Georgia Institute of Technology (33)
University of California, Irvine (33)
New York University (35)
University of California, Santa Barbara (35)
University of Illinois (35)
University of Wisconsin (35)
Boston College (39)
Rutgers University (40)
Tufts University (40)
University of Washington (40)