Speaking specifically of computer science programs, in eastern Canada (mostly Quebec and Ontario), there's a computer science contest called the CS Games. It's mostly just for fun and networking, but it's interesting to see where different universities ranked in different events. Relatively unknown universities like Carleton (my alma mater) placed excellently in extreme programming and algorithms, but not so well in debugging and shell scripting.

But to draw a parallel to your comment, both Sherbrooke and Harvard attended. Sherbrooke being relatively unknown outside of computer science circles. Well that year, Sherbrooke absolutely dominated every competition placing 4th or better in every event, and 1st overall. Harvard however placed last nearly every event (except AI where they were in the middle of the pack).

Looking at the overall reputations of both of these universities, Harvard is by far the more well known and respected. Just like the article was saying, overall rankings aren't very useful, and that if you're serious about getting a good education, you'll have to dig deeper.