agreed. even though i question the utility of these rankings (can you really say with any authority that #26 is better than #27? nonsense), the fact is that kids use them. we just love to put things in order add a value.
especially given that large universities have separate colleges, etc. that would be better in my mind if you ranked colleges. this is where our math/sciences shine of course.
VA you made an excellent but subtle point- where we should be. i think most reasonable people, even subjective alums, would agree we arent in the ranks of princeton, duke, stanford, yale, and the like. so it's realistic to say that we belong more in the 70-ish range at best, i think.
but if you factor in my comment above- how silly it is to try to rank these- i think in buckets is better. with that said, i dont see why we couldnt be as high as 50-something (uconn, smu, miami?).