We're a couple of days late on this, but for all the bad football news in the past 12 months -- both on and off the field -- this is a piece of news that deserves some recognition.

The Cougs tied for the Pac-10 lead with 15 players on the conference all-academic teams. That's up from 12 in 2007.

Congratulations, guys. Believe it or not, the reason we all go to college is to get an education. (Although, we really won't be sad if we have all these all-academic selections and win a bunch of games next year, OK?)

List of selections after the jump. I cannot believe how many offensive linemen are on that list. Smarts are supposed to be a big part of playing on the line, so that's got to count for something next year, doesn't it?

• First Team
  • Chima Nwachukwu, S/CB
    
  • Matt Mullennix, DE
    
• Second Team
  • Matt Eichelberger, DT
    
  • Joe Eppele, OL
  • Adam Hineline, DT
  • Micah Hannam, OL
• Honorable Mention
  • Kenny Alfred, OL
  • Steven Ayers, OL
  • Daniel Blackledge, WR
  • Brian Danaher, OL
  • Devin Frischknecht, TE
  • Hallston Higgins, LB
  • Kevin Kooyman, DE
  • Vaughn Lesuma, OL
  • Ben Woodard, TE