For all of its flash, verve and color, big-money college athletics also has a well-documented penchant for producing some of the most nefarious characters in the national spotlight.

The ironically named Orson Swindle, a sports blogger and Florida fanatic, did the world a service in 2006 by categorically organizing the misdeeds of major athletics’ most famous miscreants in the form of a competition — pitting universities against one another for the most unenviable of trophies: the Fulmer Cup.

The Fulmer Cup, named after the legendary former coach of the Tennessee Volunteers Phil Fulmer, is an annual award given to the NCAA Division I-A university with the most points based on an arbitrary scale concocted by Swindle.

The cup was invented as a result of a two-year period from 2004 to 2005 during which time 20 University of Tennessee football players were arrested for various offenses.

The point distribution Swindle created has been refined over the course of the last five years, but is currently as follows:

Minor in possession/various misdemeanors: one point

Group fighting: two points

Drug possession/driving under the influence: two points

Grand theft auto: three points

Assault/domestic disturbance: three points

Grand larceny/racketeering: four points

Rape/bestiality/kidnapping: four points

Murder: five points

In addition to the overall team competition, individual statistics are tracked. The individual that finishes the season with the highest individual score is awarded the Ellis T. Jones III award.

This award is named after the most sinister collegiate criminal in the last decade. Jones earned the honor in the summer of 2006. Over the course of three days, he accrued 13 felony indictments, including five counts of robbery, four counts of assault for using a Taser on the robbery victims and one count of kidnapping to commit robbery for “trunking” one robbery victim in the back of his car.

More than an occasionally gruesome novelty item, the Fulmer Cup offers a little-seen perspective on college athletics.

The information can prove useful to everyone with any interest in a university athletic program. From the administrative angle, it serves as a useful counterpoint to on-field success much like academic success rates.

To the prospective student or student-athlete, it is another metric to use when calculating where you are going to take your talents.

Since its inaugural season in 2006, five different universities have won the Cup.

Over the same period of time, the all-time top five in the cup standings —Illinois, Florida, Georgia, Missouri and Penn State have recorded six NCAA March Madness appearances — and one championship — along with six BCS bowl appearances and two football championships.

It is possible for teams to be highly successful on the field while maintaining a veritable den of thieves on campus. Athletic success alone is not enough to judge the overall effectiveness of a university and its athletic department. Thanks to the Fulmer Cup, fans and universities alike are on the track toward a more complete understanding of program success.