Northwestern and Duke were among the leaders in the NCAA's annual football APR, which measures something or other about academic progress and graduation rates; we're not really sure. It's like a scholarly BCS.
In that vain, even though Boise State was tied with Duke for No. 2 behind Northwestern, we left the Broncos out of our mythical national title game based on schedule/syllabus strength.
Louisville was ranked last amongst BCS teams.
Team Speed Kills has a handy, graphic breakdown of the all rates from BCS schools. A list of the best and worst schools from each conference is below.
ACC
Top -- Duke (981)
Bottom -- Maryland (931)
Average -- 961 (1st)
BIG EAST
Top -- Rutgers (982)
Bottom -- Louisville (911)
Average -- 952 (4th)
BIG TEN
Top -- Northwestern (995)
Bottom -- Minnesota (932)
Average -- 960 (2nd)
BIG 12
Top -- Missouri (972)
Bottom -- Oklahoma State (928)
Average -- 951 (5th)
PAC-10
Top -- Stanford (977)
Bottom -- Washington State (933)
Average -- 949 (6th)
SEC
Top -- Vanderbilt (978)
Bottom -- Tennessee (931)
Average -- 956 (3rd)