(UPDATED with Iowa's response) Iowa football tied for 2nd in a Top 25 you'd rather not lead. Sports Illustrated/CBS News investigative report explains.

When Pittsburgh's college football team plays at Iowa this Sept. 17, the Hawkeyes can offer the Panthers some gratitude before they start tearing into each other on the Kinnick Stadium field.

According to this report by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian for Sports Illustrated and CBS News, Pitt is the only team in last season's preseason 25 to have more players with police records than Iowa.

Pitt had more than anyone of those 25 teams, in fact.

?It was a pretty comprehensive check, as this paragraph from the story details:

The joint investigation involved conducting criminal background checks on every player -- 2,837 in all -- on the preseason rosters of those 25 teams. Players' names, dates of birth and other vital information were checked at 31 courthouses and through 25 law enforcement agencies in 17 states. Players were also checked through one or more online databases that track criminal records. In all, 7,030 individual record checks were performed.

Pittsburgh had 22 such players. Iowa and Arkansas tied for second with 18. Boise State was a close fourth, tied with Penn State with 16.

Some others: Wisconsin 9, Miami 8, Ohio State 7, USC 7, Alabama 5, Nebraska 4, Texas 2, Stanford 1. TCU was the only preseason Top 25 team with none.

Here is a rebuttal to the report by SlowStates.com. A passage:

Your typical college football player is one-half of one percent more likely to have a criminal conviction. To put that in perspective, a team of 85 players has half a person more convicted criminals on it than a sample of 85 students drawn randomly. Hide yo kids, hide yo wife.

Wednesday afternoon, Iowa sports information director Phil Haddy sent out his school's response to the story.

IOWA RESPONSE TO SI.com STORY

The University of Iowa does not have access to the detail behind the SI.com survey that examined the 2010 pre-season top 25 college football programs. However, the UI does know that a total number of 18 student-athletes who were on the 2010 team roster have, in fact, been charged with offenses since 2007.

 All 18 charges were misdemeanors.  Of these charges:

• 15 were alcohol related;
• Two were for possession of a controlled substance;
• One was for misdemeanor assault, and the student-athlete plead guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct. 

Underage consumption of alcohol and extreme consumption of alcohol have been issues for The University of Iowa and Iowa City community for several years. Staff of the UI and the City of Iowa City have and currently are collaborating on a number of efforts to address these concerns.