INDIANAPOLIS - The Ole Miss football program will lose three scholarships for the 2010 signing class as a result of its Academic Performance Rate (APR) score, the NCAA announced on Wednesday.

The SEC led the six power conferences with six teams penalized - three of which were programs at Auburn (men's basketball, men's track and men's swimming).

Ole Miss was the only SEC school penalized in football; Minnesota, the only other BCS program penalized, also lost three scholarships.

Mississippi State incurred no penalties. In fact, MSU showed improvement from last year in each of the big three men's sports. State scored a 933 in football, 913 in basketball and 973 in baseball.

APR scores are calculated based on data from the fall semester in 2004 through the spring semester in 2008. Each athlete receives one point per semester for remaining academically eligible and another point each semester for remaining at that school or graduating.

A mathematical formula is used to correlate a final team score, with 1,000 points being perfect. Teams that fall below 925 can be subjected to immediate penalties.

Those falling below 900 consistently - such as Centenary and Tennessee-Chattanooga, which were both dealt postseason bans - can be hit the hardest by sanctions.

For Ole Miss, which scored 910 in football, the scholarship losses are a result of the squad not retaining three players that were academically ineligible.

While institutions may fall below the 925 score, the scholarship penalties are only levied if a player is not retained and academically ineligible.

The 2008 football season was the first under Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt.

"It is important to note that coaching changes have a negative impact on retention points at all institutions," Ole Miss athletics director Pete Boone said. "Academic eligibility is the responsibility of the athletics department, coaches and the students while they are members of our teams. Our Student-Athlete Academic Support staff is one of the best in the country. Having said that, the NCAA admission standards are liberal and the degree programs at Ole Miss are demanding."

Nutt said the players in question were in trouble prior to the arrival of he and his staff. He emphasized his commitment to academic support for football players.

Boone and Nutt say they expect the football program to score above the 925 cutoff mark for the 2009-2010 year.

"The academic success of our players is a priority for our staff and we are committed to having a good academic program," Nutt said. "We work very closely with and support the Office of Student-Athlete Academic Support in its efforts to provide academic needs for our young men in their progress toward their college degrees. The penalties being assessed occurred prior to the time of our arrival. Our team's APR number for this year is predicted to be over 925 and that shows our commitment and we look forward to continuing our academic success."

The list of underachieving teams showed a distinct delineation between those programs with a lot of money and those with less money.

Of the 85 teams penalized in football and men's basketball, only 10 came from the six traditional power conferences, and none of those received the two harshest penalties - a reduction in practice time or a postseason ban.

One hundred seventy-seven teams overall were penalized.

Football and men's basketball accounted for 76 teams, minus Jacksonville State's football program. Ten schools were offenders in both sports, but only two - Alabama-Birmingham and New Mexico State - play in the Football Bowl Subdivision. UAB was the only school in the Football Bowl Subdivision to receive a reduction in practice times in both sports.

Following the SEC, the Big Ten was next with three schools sanctioned - Indiana, Purdue and Ohio State. All fell short in basketball and face scholarship losses next season, although the Hoosiers already implemented their penalty during the 2008-09 school year.

The Big 12 had two teams on the list - Colorado in men's basketball and Oklahoma State in women's basketball. Georgia Tech's men's basketball team was the lone ACC representative.

McNeese State led all schools with eight teams sanctioned, while Nicholls State was next with six.

Contributing: The Associated Press, Brad Locke of the Daily Journal.