If you say Ohio State student-athletes solely focus on winning a national title, you are totally wrong. The Buckeyes continue a trend of high academic achievement, and this now places OSU in elite territory within Division I football.

Ohio State football achieved a perfect multi-year APR score of 1,000 for the third consecutive year, as per the recent report. The program’s consistency is highlighted by averaging data over 4-year windows. This covers the period from 2021–22 through the 2024–25 academic years, and the perfect score means that for every semester or quarter, the Buckeyes remained eligible and retained their enrollment, reflecting excellent academic performance.

“After maintaining record-high Graduation Success Rate numbers in the autumn, OSU’s student-athletes continue to impress with this year’s APR scores,” said Dr. John Davidson, OSU Faculty Athletics Representative. “Half of our programs hold perfect single-year marks, more than half achieved a multi-year score above 990/1000, and our national champions in football boast the only perfect multi-year score in the sport across NCAA Division I.”

The streak began with OSU’s first-ever perfect multi-year score in 2024. Following that, they achieved 1,000-point ratings in 2025 and 2026. In 2025, the program’s achievement was the only perfect multi-year score in the entire Division I Football. This year, the football team is one of nine OSU teams to hit the 1,000 mark.

It is also boasting a record department-wide single-year APR of 995 for the 2024–25 academic year, the highest since 2019–20.

“At a time when media attention is myopically focused on money in college athletics, our student-athletes consistently demonstrate that academic opportunity through sport is still at the heart of the enterprise,” said Davidson. “Their success is a tribute not just to their hard work but also to an athletics culture embraced by coaches, administrators, and support staff that holds education to be a primary goal.”

This season, while football leads the headlines, OSU’s entire athletics department is seeing record-breaking success. 26 different OSU teams recorded a single-year APR of 990 or greater. Since the APR began in 2004, Ohio State has seen a steady upward trend from being a “top-tier” academic school to a “perfect” one.

In 2020, the score was 985, ranking third in the B1G behind Wisconsin and Northwestern. However, the Buckeyes’ perfect record began two years ago, following student athletes who continue to set a high bar for academics.

Ohio State players’ academic honors to date

So far this academic year, 227 Buckeyes have been named to the Academic All-B1G Team. Then, this April, a total of 804 student-athletes were named Ohio State Scholar-Athletes. By the end of the 2024 cycle, 515 Buckeyes were named Academic All-Big Ten, and 805 were recognized as Scholar-Athletes.

“Despite increasing volatility in the age of NIL and nearly unlimited transfer in college athletics, Ohio State shows remarkably high and consistent academic achievement across its sports and continues to strive for improvement,” said Davidson.

The Buckeyes also maintained a high Graduation Success Rate of 93, with 15 teams recording a perfect 100. Given all this, it’s clear that OSU not only prepares its student-athletes to perform on the field but also makes them ready to give a fight in the real world.