[CTcard]

I loathe our southern neighbors as much as anyone, but ...

U$€ is such a loathsome institution.  ...
They have systematically brought in high achieving students from abroad to raise their USNWR rankings and hired top professors, while not doing a thing to raise standards for football players. 

I think the first part is called trying to make yourself a better institution.
The second part is kind of annoying, but only places them on par with 100+ other FBS universities - and despite public awareness of football it is a rather small part of the institution.

But of course you probably just meant "U$€ football is such a loathsome institution."

Ca.l also uses "40 year decision" in its pitch, but at least they have some legitimate claim based on the esteem the school is held in globally.  U$€ is the spoiled trust fund kid who's daddy is buying entry into elite schools because the kid doesn't have the academic chops to make it in otherwise. 

While I am sure the spoiled kid without academic chops is universally true at the place, I also note that every school is now telling football recruits that they represent a 40 year decision. The phrase is far from unique.

The U$€ pitch probably goes like this:  Why bother with AP classes and all that other stuff you have to do at Stanford, when you can graduate from U$€ with just as quality of an education, and play for the program that has produced the most NFL players?

Of course the S.-C. pitch goes like that, though I suspect "the most NFL players" part is stressed a lot more than that sentence would indicate.
Substitute some other related phrase for "the most NFL players" and every place that recruits against Stanford more or less has that pitch. I mean it has to be something pretty close to that, doesn't it? Two options that won't work are a) "come to S.-C. because we are a higher ranked institution", or b) "yeah it's true - Stanford is better, but we still kind of hope you choose us."

[CTcard]

I loathe our southern neighbors as much as anyone, but ...

U$€ is such a loathsome institution.  ...
They have systematically brought in high achieving students from abroad to raise their USNWR rankings and hired top professors, while not doing a thing to raise standards for football players. 

I think the first part is called trying to make yourself a better institution.
The second part is kind of annoying, but only places them on par with 100+ other FBS universities - and despite public awareness of football it is a rather small part of the institution.

But of course you probably just meant "U$€ football is such a loathsome institution."

Ca.l also uses "40 year decision" in its pitch, but at least they have some legitimate claim based on the esteem the school is held in globally.  U$€ is the spoiled trust fund kid who's daddy is buying entry into elite schools because the kid doesn't have the academic chops to make it in otherwise. 

While I am sure the spoiled kid without academic chops is universally true at the place, I also note that every school is now telling football recruits that they represent a 40 year decision. The phrase is far from unique.

The U$€ pitch probably goes like this:  Why bother with AP classes and all that other stuff you have to do at Stanford, when you can graduate from U$€ with just as quality of an education, and play for the program that has produced the most NFL players?

Of course the S.-C. pitch goes like that, though I suspect "the most NFL players" part is stressed a lot more than that sentence would indicate.
Substitute some other related phrase for "the most NFL players" and every place that recruits against Stanford more or less has that pitch. I mean it has to be something pretty close to that, doesn't it? Two options that won't work are a) "come to S.-C. because we are a higher ranked institution", or b) "yeah it's true - Stanford is better, but we still kind of hope you choose us."