| Phil Steele Blog • January 25, 2016 |
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Most Improved Rush Defenses.
In today's blog I will start going thru the teams that were most improved and least improved in some of the major statistical categories. 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 rush defense, Georgia State, did just that. They improved from allowing 303.4 ypg in 2014 to just 181 ypg last year. Of the 15 teams that I had listed as the ones to have the most improved rush defenses this past year, 10 of them ranked in the top 36 after the season. 6 were in the top 17 with those teams being Georgia St, New Mexico, Kent St, New Mexico St, Western Kentucky and San Diego St.
The chart listed below is ranked in order from the most improved to the team that had the biggest set back in rush defense which was UCF (went from allowing 104 ypg to 199). TCU was #4 at the bottom going from 109 ypg to 182. It might surprise you that teams like Oklahoma, Miami Florida, UCLA and Penn St were all in the bottom 20 but the common denominator for those 4 was that they had really good rush defenses the year before.
The first column is last years defensive rush yards allowed. The second column is rush 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 rush D.
| Def Rush Yds | ||||
| Team | 2015 | 2014 | Dif | Rank |
| Georgia St | 181.1 | 303.4 | -122.3 | 1 |
| UNLV | 216.7 | 293.8 | -77.2 | 2 |
| New Mexico | 192.7 | 269.0 | -76.3 | 3 |
| Illinois | 166.4 | 239.2 | -72.7 | 4 |
| Kent St | 143.9 | 214.0 | -70.1 | 5 |
| Nebraska | 109.8 | 177.8 | -68.0 | 6 |
| New Mexico St | 242.3 | 309.9 | -67.7 | 7 |
| S Mississippi | 151.9 | 216.3 | -64.5 | 8 |
| Iowa St | 186.6 | 246.3 | -59.7 | 9 |
| Akron | 92.9 | 148.7 | -55.7 | 10 |
| Navy | 143.0 | 198.6 | -55.6 | 11 |
| Westen Kentucky | 165.6 | 220.8 | -55.2 | 12 |
| Troy St | 192.2 | 246.1 | -53.9 | 13 |
| Arkansas St | 151.5 | 205.2 | -53.8 | 14 |
| Florida ATL | 168.4 | 222.1 | -53.7 | 15 |
| Iowa | 121.4 | 168.3 | -46.9 | 16 |
| San Diego St | 108.7 | 153.9 | -45.2 | 17 |
| Northwestern | 126.2 | 169.9 | -43.8 | 18 |
| South Florida | 141.4 | 182.9 | -41.5 | 19 |
| Vanderbilt | 143.2 | 183.8 | -40.6 | 20 |
| Maryland | 162.8 | 201.9 | -39.2 | 21 |
| Duke | 153.8 | 192.9 | -39.2 | 22 |
| San Jose St | 200.8 | 239.4 | -38.6 | 23 |
| Utah | 108.6 | 146.8 | -38.2 | 24 |
| Houston | 108.9 | 143.3 | -34.5 | 25 |
| Boise St | 108.2 | 142.6 | -34.3 | 26 |
| Temple | 127.9 | 160.2 | -32.3 | 27 |
| Arizona St | 126.2 | 157.4 | -31.2 | 28 |
| Miami (OH) | 168.9 | 199.9 | -31.0 | 29 |
| Wisconsin | 95.4 | 126.1 | -30.7 | 30 |
| Middle Tenn St | 152.2 | 182.6 | -30.4 | 31 |
| LSU | 122.9 | 152.7 | -29.8 | 32 |
| Army | 165.2 | 193.0 | -27.8 | 33 |
| Alabama | 75.7 | 102.4 | -26.7 | 34 |
| Rutgers | 186.1 | 212.3 | -26.2 | 35 |
| Florida St | 145.3 | 170.1 | -24.8 | 36 |
| Georgia Southern | 130.9 | 153.7 | -22.7 | 37 |
| Wake Forest | 161.3 | 182.7 | -21.4 | 38 |
| N Carolina St | 147.5 | 168.4 | -20.9 | 39 |
| Appalachian St | 131.5 | 152.3 | -20.8 | 40 |
| Bowling Green | 182.4 | 202.1 | -19.8 | 41 |
| Old Dominion | 203.3 | 222.5 | -19.2 | 42 |
| Georgia | 149.5 | 166.8 | -17.4 | 43 |
| Tennessee | 151.6 | 168.4 | -16.8 | 44 |
| Ohio St | 126.8 | 141.3 | -14.5 | 45 |
| UTEP | 162.8 | 176.8 | -14.1 | 46 |
| Pittsburgh | 148.5 | 160.8 | -12.4 | 47 |
| Boston College | 82.8 | 94.5 | -11.6 | 48 |
| Mississippi | 127.1 | 136.9 | -9.8 | 49 |
| W Virginia | 158.7 | 168.2 | -9.5 | 50 |
| Minnesota | 166.4 | 174.7 | -8.3 | 51 |
| Colorado | 198.7 | 204.8 | -6.1 | 52 |
| Connecticut | 165.8 | 169.8 | -4.1 | 53 |
| Georgia Tech | 165.1 | 167.6 | -2.5 | 54 |
| Texas A&M | 213.7 | 216.0 | -2.3 | 55 |
| Toledo | 115.2 | 116.2 | -1.1 | 56 |
| Missouri | 132.8 | 133.7 | -1.0 | 57 |
| Louisiana Tech | 119.3 | 118.2 | 1.1 | 58 |
| Umass | 192.9 | 191.8 | 1.2 | 59 |
| Washington | 125.3 | 124.1 | 1.2 | 60 |
| Arkansas | 116.5 | 114.6 | 1.8 | 61 |
| Notre Dame | 175.6 | 171.2 | 4.5 | 62 |
| Michigan | 122.2 | 117.7 | 4.6 | 63 |
| Kentucky | 196.1 | 191.2 | 4.9 | 64 |
| S Carolina | 217.4 | 212.2 | 5.2 | 65 |
| N Carolina | 247.4 | 240.5 | 6.9 | 66 |
| Cincinnati | 191.6 | 183.7 | 7.9 | 67 |
| Marshall | 168.2 | 160.2 | 7.9 | 68 |
| Air Force | 144.7 | 135.6 | 9.1 | 69 |
| Buffalo | 186.1 | 175.2 | 10.9 | 70 |
| Louisville | 120.2 | 108.9 | 11.3 | 71 |
| N Illinois | 174.7 | 163.1 | 11.6 | 72 |
| Florida | 128.1 | 116.2 | 11.9 | 73 |
| Nevada | 191.4 | 179.5 | 11.9 | 74 |
| Colorado St | 212.9 | 200.8 | 12.2 | 75 |
| Indiana | 195.7 | 182.7 | 13.0 | 76 |
| Oregon | 178.8 | 165.4 | 13.4 | 77 |
| Auburn | 182.7 | 168.8 | 13.9 | 78 |
| USC | 149.3 | 133.4 | 15.9 | 79 |
| C Michigan | 139.2 | 122.9 | 16.3 | 80 |
| TexasTech | 279.9 | 260.3 | 19.7 | 81 |
| Tulane | 178.8 | 157.9 | 20.9 | 82 |
| Utah St | 151.9 | 130.7 | 21.2 | 83 |
| Clemson | 125.3 | 103.4 | 21.9 | 84 |
| BYU | 143.8 | 121.8 | 22.0 | 85 |
| Wyoming | 225.2 | 203.0 | 22.2 | 86 |
| Purdue | 214.9 | 192.1 | 22.8 | 87 |
| Mississippi St | 174.6 | 151.5 | 23.1 | 88 |
| Oklahoma St | 186.9 | 162.8 | 24.1 | 89 |
| UL Monroe | 208.0 | 183.3 | 24.7 | 90 |
| Florida Intl | 185.1 | 160.4 | 24.7 | 91 |
| Memphis | 146.5 | 121.5 | 25.0 | 92 |
| Tulsa | 239.7 | 214.7 | 25.0 | 93 |
| SMU | 261.2 | 235.8 | 25.4 | 94 |
| Kansas St | 166.7 | 140.3 | 26.4 | 95 |
| Idaho | 273.3 | 246.2 | 27.1 | 96 |
| W Michigan | 181.1 | 153.5 | 27.5 | 97 |
| Michigan St | 116.0 | 88.5 | 27.5 | 98 |
| UTSA | 168.9 | 140.2 | 28.8 | 99 |
| Arizona | 198.5 | 169.8 | 28.8 | 100 |
| Fresno St | 234.7 | 201.9 | 32.7 | 101 |
| Ball St | 225.5 | 191.1 | 34.4 | 102 |
| South Alabama | 221.0 | 186.1 | 34.9 | 103 |
| Ohio Univ | 168.2 | 132.9 | 35.3 | 104 |
| Stanford | 139.9 | 104.5 | 35.4 | 105 |
| Virginia | 156.6 | 120.7 | 35.9 | 106 |
| Virginia Tech | 180.7 | 144.8 | 35.9 | 107 |
| Rice | 190.3 | 152.5 | 37.7 | 108 |
| UL-Lafayette | 183.8 | 142.2 | 41.5 | 109 |
| Syracuse | 181.8 | 139.3 | 42.6 | 110 |
| Baylor | 163.1 | 117.7 | 45.4 | 111 |
| Washington St | 193.6 | 145.7 | 47.9 | 112 |
| UCLA | 198.5 | 147.9 | 50.5 | 113 |
| Penn St | 151.0 | 100.5 | 50.5 | 114 |
| Texas | 219.2 | 164.3 | 54.9 | 115 |
| Texas St | 258.0 | 202.8 | 55.2 | 116 |
| Oklahoma | 161.7 | 106.4 | 55.3 | 117 |
| Kansas | 267.2 | 209.7 | 57.5 | 118 |
| E Carolina | 174.5 | 111.8 | 62.7 | 119 |
| Miami (Fla) | 201.0 | 138.2 | 62.8 | 120 |
| California | 209.8 | 144.6 | 65.2 | 121 |
| Oregon St | 225.5 | 158.2 | 67.3 | 122 |
| Hawaii | 239.8 | 172.3 | 67.5 | 123 |
| TCU | 182.6 | 108.8 | 73.8 | 124 |
| North Texas | 239.9 | 161.8 | 78.2 | 125 |
| E Michigan | 316.5 | 223.9 | 92.6 | 126 |
| UCF | 199.2 | 104.3 | 94.9 | 127 |