Let's not kid ourselves here, Notre Dame, Stanford, Duke, Vanderbilt, even Harvard and Yale have their share of meatheads on those rosters as well. It may not be the same quantity but they are there all the same.
It doesn't matter what the standards are supposed to be, it those "higher education" schools can get their hands on a 5-Star athlete they are going to do what it takes to get him/her.
They can make excuses but the simple truth is that until they are winning on the same year in year out level as the Alabama's, LSU's and a few other schools out there those athletes are going to schools where they can have a greater expectation of (A) winning and (B) getting paid by getting into the NFL, although there might be other forms of getting paid, right Cam?
Obviously there are more athletes than the Bama's, LSU's, Florida's, Georgia's, USC's and a few other schools can possibly take onto their rosters via scholarships so in time the Notre Dame's and Michigan's and other schools will become more relevant again as you saw this year with the Irish.
But don't used that tired ass old excuse about academic standards standing in the way of winning Nation Titles, because it simply doesn't hold true.