The Ohio State Buckeyes, despite their performance in their loss to LSU in the BCS championship game, end the 2007 college football season with the #1 defense in the country.
Ohio State finishes #1 in scoring defense, total yards allowed, and passing defense, and #2 in rushing defense. The Buckeyes held 7 of their 13 opponents to fewer than 10 points and gave up two touchdowns or fewer in 11 games. In fact, even the LSU game wasn't a terrible defensive performance; many of LSU's points were set up by mistakes on offense or special teams, and the Tigers' total yardage was not excessive.
Auburn is second when adjusted for their schedule (6th without adjusting), followed by USC, Virginia Tech, Kansas. Teams that rank better when adjusted include Michigan, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Missouri. Iowa ranks 16th despite finishing 6-6 as their offense ranks in the bottom 10 in some measures.
Here are the top 25 teams in scoring defense (click here for full list):
# Team rec adj. ave raw rank
1. Ohio State 11-2 10.64 1
2. Auburn 9-4 12.98 6
3. Southern Cal 11-2 13.10 2
4. Virginia Tech 11-3 14.92 3
5. Kansas 12-1 15.44 4
6. West Virginia 11-2 15.91 8
7. Michigan 9-4 16.37 23
8. Oklahoma 11-3 16.48 19
9. Georgia 11-2 16.88 18
10. Utah 9-4 17.15 5
11. Missouri 12-2 17.93 37
12. LSU 12-2 18.37 17
13. UCLA 6-7 18.62 29
14. Oregon St 9-4 18.98 33
15. Cincinnati 10-3 19.17 13
16. Iowa 6-6 19.22 12
17. Penn State 9-4 19.34 7
18. Connecticut 9-4 19.61 14
19. South Carolina 6-6 19.80 39
20. Arizona St 10-3 19.85 31
21. Clemson 9-4 19.89 10
22. Brigham Young 11-2 20.00 9
23. Oregon 9-4 20.09 40
24. TCU 8-5 20.35 10
25. Florida St 7-6 20.55 34
The Buckeyes are on top in yardage defense, followed by USC, who is also in the top ten in both defensive categories.
Notice all the 5-7 teams that make the list. Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt, Wyoming, and Arizona all have offense or special teams to blame for not finishing with a winning record; though since these numbers are adjusted for schedule, Arizona and Vanderbilt in particular just played tough teams, holding them well below average for the most part in yardage.
The top 25 teams in total yardage defense (click here for full list)
# Team rec total yds. raw rank
1. Ohio State 11-2 215.6 1
2. Southern Cal 11-2 240.7 2
3. Oregon St 9-4 259.8 8
4. Auburn 9-4 278.5 6
5. Brigham Young 11-2 292.6 10
6. LSU 12-2 297.8 3
7. Georgia 11-2 298.8 14
8. Pittsburgh 5-7 298.9 5
9. Virginia Tech 11-3 299.1 4
10. UCLA 6-7 299.9 29
11. Oklahoma 11-3 302.8 26
12. TCU 8-5 305.1 15
13. Arizona St 10-3 305.8 30
14. West Virginia 11-2 306.1 7
15. Michigan 9-4 307.6 24
16. Kansas 12-1 312.9 12
17. Utah 9-4 314.9 18
18. New Mexico 9-4 316.6 13
19. Clemson 9-4 318.2 9
20. Mississippi St 8-5 320.6 21
21. Vanderbilt 5-7 328.1 16
22. Wyoming 5-7 329.0 22
23. Arizona 5-7 334.1 53
24. California 7-6 336.0 58
25. Missouri 12-2 336.4 59
The Buckeyes also can claim the best passing defense. Despite LSU's success on January 7th, they only passed for 174 yards on Ohio State, much lower than their average.
The top ten passing defenses, based on adjusted yards (click here for full list)
# Team rec yards
1. Ohio State 11-2 215.6
2. Texas Tech 9-4 345.5
3. Auburn 9-4 278.5
4. Notre Dame 3-9 338.1
5. Michigan 9-4 307.6
6. West Virginia 11-2 306.1
7. Mississippi St 8-5 320.6
8. Pittsburgh 5-7 298.9
9. Southern Cal 11-2 240.7
10. Clemson 9-4 318.2
Note Texas Tech, who has the #1 passing offense, is 2nd in passing defense. Notre Dame, despite all their woes this year, was very good against the pass. Michigan, too, was burned early in the year by Appalachian State and Oregon's mobile quarterbacks, but improved over the year and did well against Illinois and Florida. West Virginia was among last year's worst passing defenses, but made the top ten this season.
For rushing defense, the Buckeyes have to settle for #2. They were number one going into the bowl games, but Oregon State held Maryland to 19 yards to finish #1 for the season.
Top ten rushing defenses (click here for full list)
# Team rec yards
1. Oregon St 9-4 45.1
2. Ohio State 11-2 51.0
3. Southern Cal 11-2 54.2
4. UCLA 6-7 84.0
5. Brigham Young 11-2 89.1
6. Boston College 11-3 89.5
7. Arizona St 10-3 90.5
8. Penn State 9-4 91.9
9. TCU 8-5 92.9
10. Texas 10-3 94.8
Southern Cal's rushing defense was roughly comparable to the top two, then it's a wide gap to the rest of the top ten.
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