Phil Steele Blog • January 25, 2016

 

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