College Football: Top Six Defensive Conferences - jmik58's Blog

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College Football: Top Six Defensive Conferences Stuck

Posted on October 25, 2012 at 11:39 AM.

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There are an infinite number of ways to trivialize the comparisons for the best college football teams and conferences.

But as much fun as it can be to chime in with arbitrary analysis it's tough to argue results and statistics. In terms of defense, the goals can be summed up into three objective categories that are backed by statistics. The job of the defense is to stop the opponent from scoring, limit the number of yards accumulated, and to take the ball away from the offense via turnovers.

We all know the SEC has dominated college football on the highest level for the past six years in the win column for the national championship, but how do they stack up as a whole against the other big-boy conferences in America?

Per capita of the number of teams in each conference, which BCS conference most predominantly fills the top-thirty nationally based on the big three factors of a successful defense?

6. ACC
Despite having twelve members, the ACC only places three teams among the nation's top thirty for points per game allowed -- accounting for 25% of the conference members -- worst among all BCS conferences. Along with this, the ACC comes in dead last among the big boys in regard to yards allowed per game with only 16.6% of the conference (two teams) ranking among the thirty best nationally. Turnovers are a little more prominent in the conference but not by much as the ACC is fourth among the "big six," landing four teams in the top thirty for most turnovers forced.

5. Big East
Despite having only eight members, the Big East is playing the quality over quantity card fairly well as they cling to relevancy. Three (37.5%) of the Big East's members find themselves in the top thirty for the least points allowed and come in fourth with the same number of representatives in the yards allowed column. The Big East isn't taking the forceful or lucky route, however, as only one club ranks in the top forty for turnovers forced among the best in college football.

4. Big-10
Whether by fad or fact the Big Ten has been the target of many for poor play this season. A slow start in non-conference BCS games was an embarrassment and less-than-explosive offensive play has made the conference look like it's straight out of the dark ages. Statistically the Big Ten hasn't looked all that bad, but is that due to the mediocre offensive output? The B1G ranks in fourth-best with four teams among the top thirty in points allowed, second best with five teams near the top for yards allowed, and near the bottom for turnovers forced with only three teams among the top thirty.

The Big Ten may not be giving up many yards, but the negative correlation between yards given up and points allowed is troublesome. Essentially, few conferences are less efficient on defense than the Big Ten as the amount of yards per point shows a tendency to give up the big play more than nearly any conference. Offenses are putting up points against the B1G but aren't working very hard to get it done.

3. Big-12
They're more known for offense (check back tomorrow for those figures) but the Big-12 apparently can play a little defense as well. Games with final scores of 70-63 may not showcase this, but collectively the conference has done a solid job so far in 2012. Three teams in the conference are in the top thirty for points allowed while four can claim the same success when it comes to yards allowed -- both reasonably impressive when considering the Big-12 only fields ten teams. Among those programs, four also rank within the top thirty for turnovers forced -- respectable figures for a group that sees top-ten foes battle to one hundred point contests.

2. PAC-12
Almost a mirror image of the results of the Big Ten, the PAC-12 has shown the positive side of defensive efficiency. Percentage-wise no other conference has more teams among the top thirty in the category of points allowed (five of twelve -- 41.7%) but all of those squads rest outside of the top fifteen. Where the conference really starts to shine, however, is in the fact that they rank fifth out of six BCS conferences in regard to yards allowed (3 of 12 in the top thirty -- 25%).

PAC-12 teams are giving up a lot of yards but aren't surrendering many points; the model of defensive efficiency. Not surprisingly, they're also second among BCS conferences in turnovers forced with five teams (nearly 42% of the conference) in the top-thirty nationally. Surrendering yardage on the field and time on the clock isn't a wise strategy, but the PAC-12 is forcing several teams to wear down without much to show for it on the scoreboard.

1. SEC
Sorry folks, but even the statistics back up the SEC on this one. The third-best tally in teams within the top thirty for points allowed (five of fourteen -- 35.7%) and first for yards allowed (6 of 14 -- 42.9%) easily puts the SEC near the top. The number that really helps them leap the PAC-12 is the fact that all of the SEC's teams (five) near the top for points allowed are within the top-fifteen nationally. Throw in the fact that no other conference is as impressive at forcing turnovers (6 of 14 in the top thirty) and it's painfully clear that if defense wins championships then the SEC could easily be in for their seventh in a row.

Sound Off: What are your top six defensive conferences in college football?

Justin Mikels is a staff writer for Operation Sports. Follow him on Twitter: @long_snapper

Comments

# 1 onac22 @ Oct 25

Had to come in for my weekly SEC nay saying. The stats back the SEC because 3/4 of the conference sucks. Alabama spends most of the season picking on teams like Ten or Ole Miss. Meanwhile the Pac-12 literally destroys itself with good competition and gets dumped on.

If the SEC is so good why does Alabama steamroll everyone with little or no competition plus bama never crosses Texas. so little travel easy wins makes national champion Hacks.

# 2 s/w @ Oct 25

There are four SEC teams in the BCS top 10 right now, all four of those teams have played a combined 2 games against top 30 ranked offenses. Oregon alone has played 3.

# 3 snidey @ Oct 26

Stupidity at its finest in the above comments who obviously doesn't watch or know anything about college football

# 4 snidey @ Oct 26

I'm pretty sure lsu alone has played 3 top 25 teams in Florida South Carolina and Texas A&M . It's the same song every year let me guess you live out west or something and you think bc Oregon puts up 50 a game to nobody's they are so good. Oregon would be atleast a two loss team in the sec. You saw what happened last year in Jerry's world I was there every Oregon fan looked like they were all about to cry because they think bc they put up all these numbers against these teams in the PAC 12 they are so good and might I add with the terrible offense lsu had they still managed to put up 40 points on them and at the end they let up on them at the end. Nobody is saying Oregon isn't a good team bc they are but every year people like you want to say stupid things like the above comments but yet you can never back it up when they get there chance. I would love to see these PAC 12 big 12 big ten schools play a full conference schedule in the sec week in and week out.