LSU got better. It fell anyway.

LSU landed at No. 202 in the new U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings, down 33 spots in a year and a long way from No. 135 a decade ago.

Why it matters: LSU hasn’t necessarily gotten worse. In several important measures, it has improved. The problem is other universities have improved faster—and U.S. News increasingly rewards areas where LSU continues to lag its peers.

By the numbers: LSU’s six-year graduation rate increased from 67% to 69% over roughly the past decade, according to federal data compiled by LSU.

Over the same period, the average among LSU’s SEC peers increased from 72% to 79%.

Put another way: LSU started 5 percentage points behind its peers, improved, but still ended up 10 points behind them.

Geaux figure: If LSU fans need a comparison that hits closer to home, consider Ole Miss.

For the 2009 entering class, LSU posted a 67% six-year graduation rate, six points better than Ole Miss at 61%.

Nine classes later, Ole Miss had climbed to 72%. LSU was at 69%.

LSU may have gotten the football coach. Ole Miss got the win—and the better graduation rate.

Losing ground: The same pattern shows up elsewhere. LSU’s four-year graduation rate has improved substantially, but comparable universities generally improved faster.

That helps explain something that otherwise looks contradictory: LSU can truthfully say student outcomes are improving while simultaneously falling in national rankings.

The university isn't necessarily moving backward. The pack is moving faster.

The measuring stick: There’s another wrinkle. Comparing LSU’s No. 135 ranking a decade ago directly to today's No. 202 isn't entirely an apples-to-apples comparison.

U.S. News has overhauled its methodology in recent years, placing greater weight on graduation, student outcomes and social mobility while eliminating or reducing several traditional measures of institutional resources and prestige.

Those changes haven't particularly helped LSU because they emphasize areas where the university already trailed many peers.

But methodology alone doesn't explain the slide. LSU had already fallen from No. 135 to No. 176 before U.S. News made its biggest recent overhaul.

A different LSU: At the same time, LSU's research enterprise has been advancing steadily.

Research expenditures at the Baton Rouge campus grew from about $281 million a decade ago to more than $430 million in the latest comparable federal data, keeping LSU roughly among the nation's top 85 universities in research spending.

And the university says its broader research enterprise reached a record $601 million last academic year as LSU continues its push to become a Top 50 public research university.

That creates an unusual split-screen: LSU is building a much larger research enterprise and pursuing ambitions to become a more consequential national research university, while its undergraduate outcomes haven't improved nearly as quickly as its comps.

And rankings are ultimately a competition. Improvement alone isn't enough.

The bottom line: LSU didn't tumble to 202 simply because it became a worse university. It improved in important ways, but competitors improved faster—and the measuring stick shifted toward some of LSU's longstanding weaknesses.

Getting better matters. Getting better faster than everyone else matters more.