USC Women Rank Fifth In Capital One Cup Standings

Earlier this school year, Capital One announced a new award to acknowledge excellence across many men’s and women’s sports. As of January 13, USC’s women’s program ranked fifth in the standings, primarily because of its third place finish in volleyball.

"Capital One Announces Official Fall Standings for Inaugural Capital One Cup Auburn and Eastern Washington lead the way in the men’s standings while Penn State on top in the women’s standings McLean, Va. (January 13, 2011) – Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF) announced today the official fall standings for the Capital One Cup, a new program rewarding NCAA Division I athletics programs for their cumulative on-field performance across multiple men’s and women’s sports. Boosted by national championships in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), respectively, Auburn and Eastern Washington are tied for the lead in the men’s standings, while Penn State, which won the volleyball national championship, is out front in the women’s standings. Below are the official Capital One Cup standings for the 2010 – 2011 fall athletics seasons, with only the Top 10 point earners in men’s and women’s Division athletics listed. The complete standings can be found at CapitalOneCup.com/standings or Facebook.com/CapitalOneCup. Women’s Cup Standings 1- Penn State (60 pts) 2 – Stanford (42 pts) 3 – Notre Dame (40 pts) 4 – Cal (36 pts) 5 – USC (30 pts) 6 – Ohio State (24 pts) 6 – Texas (24 pts) 8 – Maryland (22pts) 8 – North Carolina (22 pts) 10 – Boston College (20 pts) Auburn earned 60 points in the Capital One Cup for its victory over Oregon in the BCS national championship game, while Eastern Washington garnered 60 points for its win over Delaware in the FCS title game. That gives the Tigers’ and Eagles’ men’s athletics programs each a 20-point lead over third-place Akron, which won the soccer national championship. The rest of the men’s Top 5 includes Delaware (36), which finished 2nd in the final FCS coaches’ poll, tied for fourth place with TCU (36), which finished 2nd in the final FBS coaches’ poll after its victory over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. The Penn State volleyball team claimed a fourth-straight NCAA national championship to garner 60 points in the women’s standings, giving its athletics program an 18-point lead over second place Stanford, which finished 2nd in the final NSCAA soccer coaches’ poll and 5th in the final AVCA volleyball coaches’ poll. Rounding out the Top 5 in the women’s standings are Notre Dame (40), which won the NCAA national championship in soccer over Stanford, Cal (36), which finished 2nd in the final AVCA volleyball coaches’ poll, and USC (30), which finished 3rd in the final AVCA volleyball coaches’ poll. “The competition for the Capital One Cup is in full swing and there are a wide variety of schools in contention for the trophy,” said Capital One Cup Advisory Board Member and former Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie. “Athletics programs that claimed national championships in the fall are leading the way in the standings, symbolizing the high performance level that will need to be sustained to claim the Capital One Cup.” The fall season for the Capital One Cup, which launched in September, featured seven of the 26 total sports in action competing to earn points in the first official standings announcement. The Capital One Cup men’s fall sports included football, soccer and cross country, while the women’s fall sports included volleyball, soccer, field hockey and cross country. Schools earn points based on their teams’ Top 10 finishes in NCAA Division I championships and in final official coaches’ polls across the13 men’s and 13 women’s sports. Division I men’s and women’s athletics programs are competing to win the Capital One Cup trophy and $200,000 to fund graduate scholarships for student-athletes. One men’s and one women’s Capital One Cup winner will be determined at the end of the spring season and honored at the ESPY Awards in July, to be televised live by ESPN."