For the 10th straight year, Mississippi State is one of a handful of schools nationwide recognized by the American Football Coaches Association for graduating 70 percent or more of its football student-athletes.

MSU is joined by 29 other schools nationally with that graduation percentage. The university is one of just four Southeastern Conference institutions to hit the 70 percent figure. Vanderbilt tied Notre Dame for the top graduation rate of 100 percent, while LSU and South Carolina also made the list.

Mississippi State is one of just five schools in the country to earn AFCA recognition in each of the last 10 years. Duke, Notre Dame, Rice and Virginia also have been cited.

The University of Virginia joins MSU as the only two public schools in the nation to reach the 70 percent figure during the past decade.