Phil Steele Blog • April 4th, 2016

 

Most Improved Pass Defenses.

In today's Blog i will continue on with the Most Improved and Least Improved Pass Defenses. The Most Improved Rush Defenses blog can be found <here>. Every year in my magazine I list the teams that I think will be the most improved and least improved prior to the season. This past year that chart was found on page 42. I am pleased to report that the team I expected would make the biggest gain in pass defense, California did just that. They improved from allowing 367.2 ypg in 2014 to just 243.9 ypg in 2015. Of the 15 teams I had listed to have the most improved pass defenses this past year, 10 of them ranked in the Top 36 after the season. 5 were in the top 19 with those teams being California, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Ohio and Utah St.

The chart listed below is ranked in order from the most improved to the team that had the largest set back in pass defense which was New Mexico St (went from allowing 174.5 ypg to 280. Of the bottom 5 teams that made my list in the 2015 magazine 4 were in the bottom 17 on this list. Those teams were Texas, Kansas, Stanford and North Texas.

The first column is last years defensive pass yards allowed. The second column is pass defense from 2014. The 3rd column is the difference between the two with a negative number for improvement and the 4th column gives you their ranking based on improved yards from last years pass defense. On Wednesday I will list the Most Improved Defensive Points in 2015.

Most Improved Pass Defenses
Team
2015 2014 Diff Rank
California 243.9 367.2 -123.2 1
Oklahoma 202.8 276.2 -73.5 2
Washington St 223.5 296.6 -73.0 3
Eastern Michigan 202.8 274.8 -72.1 4
North Carolina 188.6 257.4 -68.8 5
Texas A&M 166.3 234.8 -68.5 6
BYU 201.8 269.7 -67.8 7
Washington 226.5 286.6 -60.0 8
Boston College 171.5 229.8 -58.3 9
Mississippi St 216.5 272.8 -56.3 10
Bowling Green 235.4 291.4 -56.0 11
Charlotte 228.4 284.2 -55.8 12
Nevada 214.0 267.6 -53.6 13
Ohio 209.5 261.4 -52.0 14
WKU 239.6 289.2 -49.5 15
Air Force 210.1 259.2 -49.0 16
UCLA 203.2 250.6 -47.4 17
Colorado St 177.6 224.2 -46.6 18
Utah St 180.5 225.4 -44.8 19
Missouri 169.3 212.7 -43.5 20
Fresno St 211.5 254.1 -42.6 21
Georgia Tech 202.9 243.7 -40.8 22
Central Michigan 193.0 232.5 -39.5 23
Cincinnati 217.0 255.4 -38.4 24
Colorado 218.2 256.2 -37.9 25
Hawaii 208.9 245.8 -36.9 26
Notre Dame 197.1 233.0 -35.9 27
Michigan 158.5 193.7 -35.2 28
Florida St 191.6 226.8 -35.2 29
Illinois 184.4 217.2 -32.8 30
Toledo 259.7 291.7 -32.0 31
Florida 182.1 213.6 -31.4 32
Wyoming 196.9 227.8 -30.8 33
Baylor 233.5 264.2 -30.7 34
East Carolina 226.4 255.5 -29.1 35
Army West Point 210.4 237.8 -27.4 36
Georgia Southern 207.2 234.4 -27.3 37
UL Lafayette 237.1 263.6 -26.5 38
Alabama 200.6 226.0 -25.4 39
USC 251.5 274.5 -23.0 40
Boise St 210.1 232.9 -22.8 41
SMU 241.0 263.7 -22.7 42
Northwestern 192.8 214.3 -21.6 43
Connecticut 189.3 208.8 -19.4 44
South Alabama 195.0 212.8 -17.8 45
Kentucky 198.1 215.8 -17.7 46
TCU 215.8 233.0 -17.2 47
Oklahoma St 252.2 269.2 -17.0 48
Ohio St 184.5 201.1 -16.6 49
Middle Tennessee 253.5 269.7 -16.2 50
Iowa St 266.8 282.7 -15.8 51
Georgia 156.5 170.4 -13.9 52
Minnesota 179.5 193.5 -13.9 53
Arizona 268.3 281.2 -12.9 54
Appalachian St 182.9 195.2 -12.2 55
Vanderbilt 207.3 218.3 -11.0 56
Kent St 206.2 216.3 -10.1 57
Virginia Tech 189.2 199.0 -9.8 58
Troy 199.1 207.9 -8.8 59
South Carolina 212.4 220.5 -8.0 60
Auburn 222.5 230.1 -7.6 61
Southern Miss 227.6 235.1 -7.4 62
Idaho 211.7 216.5 -4.9 63
Penn St 173.5 178.2 -4.8 64
New Mexico 244.9 249.6 -4.7 65
Marshall 192.6 196.9 -4.2 66
FAU 236.7 238.7 -2.0 67
NC State 203.2 204.7 -1.5 68
UMass 254.9 255.8 -0.8 69
San Diego St 178.6 178.5 0.0 70
Miami, Oh 235.7 234.3 1.3 71
Tulane 233.4 229.9 3.5 72
Old Dominion 233.9 229.7 4.3 73
Buffalo 227.3 222.5 4.8 74
Wisconsin 173.2 168.0 5.2 75
West Virginia 237.8 231.2 6.5 76
Michigan St 233.9 227.3 6.5 77
Oregon St 256.0 248.1 7.9 78
Utah 258.2 246.6 11.5 79
Louisiana Tech 256.5 244.3 12.3 80
Miami, Fl 203.8 191.4 12.5 81
Louisville 212.5 199.6 12.9 82
Tennessee 210.4 196.2 14.2 83
Texas Tech 267.8 253.2 14.6 84
Western Michigan 232.6 217.6 15.0 85
Northern Illinois 243.6 228.5 15.1 86
Pittsburgh 214.7 198.9 15.8 87
Wake Forest 202.5 186.6 15.9 88
Akron 238.6 222.5 16.1 89
Navy 221.9 205.2 16.7 90
FIU 221.0 203.3 17.7 91
USF 239.1 220.2 18.9 92
Purdue 243.4 223.9 19.5 93
Texas St 263.8 243.3 20.6 94
UNLV 240.4 219.6 20.8 95
Temple 209.1 186.9 22.2 96
Virginia 254.9 232.5 22.4 97
Rice 257.2 233.4 23.8 98
Maryland 258.4 234.3 24.1 99
Tulsa 296.9 272.1 24.8 100
ULM 214.8 189.9 24.9 101
Clemson 187.7 157.4 30.3 102
Georgia St 224.5 193.7 30.9 103
Memphis 260.2 228.0 32.2 104
Duke 240.9 206.8 34.2 105
San Jose St 157.8 117.8 39.9 106
Oregon 306.5 264.3 42.3 107
Iowa 219.6 175.9 43.6 108
Rutgers 275.9 230.5 45.5 109
UTSA 275.2 229.5 45.7 110
Syracuse 256.7 209.9 46.8 111
Texas 233.4 184.2 49.2 112
Kansas 293.7 243.5 50.2 113
Stanford 228.4 177.9 50.5 114
Arkansas St 267.8 216.0 51.8 115
Ball St 292.5 237.8 54.8 116
North Texas 262.7 207.7 55.0 117
Kansas St 285.5 229.0 56.5 118
LSU 224.3 164.2 60.1 119
Indiana 313.8 251.1 62.7 120
Arkansas 275.2 208.8 66.4 121
Mississippi 258.8 192.1 66.7 122
UCF 264.9 194.2 70.7 123
UTEP 265.0 191.2 73.8 124
Houston 274.7 200.1 74.6 125
Arizona St 337.5 259.7 77.8 126
Nebraska 290.5 205.8 84.7 127
New Mexico St 280.0 174.5 105.5 128