| Phil Steele Blog • April 4th, 2016 |
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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 |