Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention? I’ve just been handed an urgent news story, and I need all of you to stop what you’re doing and listen:
Stop rate is back!
What is stop rate? It’s a basic measurement of success: the percentage of a defense’s drives that end in punts, turnovers or a turnover on downs. This simple metric can offer a more accurate reflection of a defense’s effectiveness in today’s faster-tempo college football than yards per game or points per game. We’re now in Year 7 of tracking this statistic (here are the final standings for 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017) along with every defense’s points per drive average.
Because we filter out games against FCS opponents for these standings, we usually prefer to wait and let these defenses get a few games under their belts. The more games they play, the more meaningful stop rate data becomes. Now that we’re a month into the season, let’s see how they’re doing.
Penn State debuted at No. 1 in the first edition of the 2023 standings with a stop rate of 88.9 percent. The Nittany Lions had a top-five unit by this measure in their first season under defensive coordinator Manny Diaz and definitely look like they’ve gotten even better.
They’re led up front by a talented trio of pass rushers in Chop Robinson, Adisa Isaac and Dani Dennis-Sutton, have the No. 1 pass defense in the country and are off to an incredible start in the turnover department with an 11-0 turnover margin. Best of all? They’ve displayed strong depth through these four games, which hints to this high level of play being sustainable.
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Duke made a major statement in its season opener with a 28-7 win over Clemson, aided by stops on 12 of 13 drives and stingy play in the red zone. This defense led by head coach Mike Elko and coordinator Tyler Santucci has allowed 7, 14 and 7 points in the three games since then. Two of those touchdowns were surrendered in the last two minutes of blowout wins. This crew has been excellent and is currently No. 2 in stop rate at 88.6 percent. They’re eager to prove themselves again when No. 11 Notre Dame comes to Durham on Saturday.
Checking in at No. 4 this week: Hello, Oklahoma! Clemson was a contender for the stop rate crown every year under Brent Venables and finished No. 1 in both 2017 and ’18, so it is in no way surprising that Venables has the Sooners’ defense playing so much better in Year 2. They finished No. 72 in stop rate at the end of their 6-7 season and look seriously improved at all three levels of the defense through four games. Oklahoma is currently No. 2 in points per drive, has yet to surrender a rushing touchdown and has a 3-to-8 touchdown-to-interception ratio against the pass.
There’s no need to be concerned about Georgia not being No. 1 right now. The Bulldogs have forced more punts than any other team in the country and have been a top-10 defense in points per drive, yards per attempt and third-down defense. They’d be No. 5 in stop rate if we were counting their win over FCS program UT Martin. They’re going to be just fine.
Last season, Iowa finished No. 1 in stop rate for the second time in three years. The Hawkeyes check in at No. 31 this week’s rankings. Four games in, they’re still a top-10 unit in terms of yards per play allowed (4.21) and have given up the fewest plays of 20-plus yards (five) of any defense, but their stop rate took a hit during the 31-0 loss at Penn State, and they dropped 12 spots in these rankings.
USC (105th), Oregon (111th) and UCLA (112th) all finished poorly in last year’s stop rate standings but are off to a much better start to 2023. You’d expect improvements in Year 2 for the staffs at USC and Oregon, especially given their efforts to upgrade on defense with transfer portal pickups and blue-chip freshmen. The Trojans are tied for No. 1 nationally in tackles for loss (41), and the Ducks are No. 2 in passing yards per attempt allowed (4.6). New UCLA defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn came from the NFL and deserves a lot of credit for getting the Bruins back on track. They’re all the way up to No. 7 in stop rate and No. 4 in points per drive.
The one Top 25 contender whose stop rate early on this season is a little alarming? That would be LSU. The Tigers check in at No. 107 this week based on their three games against FBS opponents. The second-half struggles against Florida State are clearly weighing heavily in their 53.1 percent stop rate right now, but getting just four stops in a 34-31 win over Arkansas didn’t help.
How are the rest of the defenses across the country performing in stop rate? Here are the full FBS-only stop rate standings entering Week 5.
Note: All data is courtesy of TruMedia and Pro Football Focus.
Rk
Defense
G
Drives
Stop Rate
Pts/Drive
1
3
36
88.9%
0.78
2
3
35
88.6%
0.80
3
4
41
87.8%
0.56
4
4
49
85.7%
0.69
5
3
34
85.3%
0.79
6
4
46
84.8%
0.80
7
3
38
84.2%
0.79
8
3
37
83.8%
1.03
8
3
37
83.8%
0.84
10
3
34
82.4%
1.12
11
3
33
81.8%
1.09
12
4
44
79.5%
1.23
13
3
34
79.4%
1.26
14
3
38
78.9%
1.26
15
3
33
78.8%
1.27
16
4
47
78.7%
1.15
17
3
37
78.4%
1.19
17
3
37
78.4%
1.22
19
2
27
77.8%
1.11
20
4
49
77.6%
1.37
20
4
49
77.6%
1.02
22
3
35
77.1%
1.23
22
3
35
77.1%
1.31
24
3
38
76.3%
1.34
25
4
50
76%
1.36
25
4
50
76%
1.44
27
3
33
75.8%
1.42
28
3
41
75.6%
1.37
29
4
45
75.6%
1.27
30
4
53
75.5%
1.51
31
4
51
74.5%
1.33
32
4
43
74.4%
1.42
33
3
27
74.1%
1.63
34
3
37
73%
1.35
35
3
39
71.8%
1.56
36
3
38
71.1%
1.74
36
3
38
71.1%
1.92
38
3
34
70.6%
1.47
39
3
44
70.5%
1.98
40
3
37
70.3%
1.73
40
3
37
70.3%
1.62
42
4
47
70.2%
1.57
43
3
40
70%
2.00
44
4
53
69.8%
1.89
45
3
36
69.4%
1.89
45
3
36
69.4%
2.11
45
3
36
69.4%
1.81
48
3
35
68.6%
1.74
49
4
47
68.1%
1.79
50
3
34
67.6%
1.79
50
3
34
67.6%
1.68
52
4
46
67.4%
1.76
53
4
49
67.3%
2.04
54
3
39
66.7%
2.08
54
3
36
66.7%
2.00
54
3
39
66.7%
2.08
54
3
39
66.7%
1.82
54
3
39
66.7%
2.03
54
3
36
66.7%
1.89
60
4
44
65.9%
1.91
61
3
38
65.8%
2.11
62
3
35
65.7%
2.17
63
3
32
65.6%
2.00
64
3
40
65%
2.05
65
3
37
64.9%
2.16
66
3
34
64.7%
1.94
67
3
36
63.9%
2.19
67
3
36
63.9%
1.86
67
3
36
63.9%
2.06
70
4
47
63.8%
2.19
71
3
38
63.2%
1.95
71
3
38
63.2%
2.16
73
3
35
62.9%
2.03
74
4
50
62%
2.34
75
4
55
61.8%
2.11
76
3
34
61.8%
2.21
76
3
34
61.8%
2.29
76
3
34
61.8%
2.00
79
3
39
61.5%
2.38
80
3
31
61.3%
2.39
81
4
49
61.2%
2.43
82
3
36
61.1%
2.28
82
3
36
61.1%
2.17
84
4
48
60.4%
2.25
85
3
40
60%
2.42
85
3
35
60%
2.69
85
3
40
60%
2.50
85
3
35
60%
1.97
89
3
37
59.5%
2.24
90
4
51
58.8%
2.69
91
3
41
58.5%
2.51
92
3
38
57.9%
2.42
92
3
38
57.9%
2.26
94
3
33
57.6%
2.36
95
3
40
57.5%
2.70
96
4
47
57.4%
2.47
96
4
47
57.4%
2.38
98
4
49
57.1%
2.22
98
4
49
57.1%
2.63
98
3
35
57.1%
2.43
101
4
51
56.9%
2.51
102
5
64
56.2%
2.64
102
4
48
56.2%
2.73
104
2
22
54.5%
3.18
105
3
37
54.1%
2.81
106
3
45
53.3%
2.91
107
3
32
53.1%
2.28
107
3
32
53.1%
2.81
109
3
34
52.9%
2.94
109
3
34
52.9%
3.03
111
3
36
52.8%
3.17
111
3
36
52.8%
2.83
111
3
36
52.8%
2.72
114
4
40
52.5%
2.60
115
3
42
52.4%
3.07
116
2
23
52.2%
2.30
117
3
35
51.4%
2.91
118
3
36
50%
2.92
118
3
34
50%
3.41
120
3
41
48.8%
3.27
121
3
37
48.6%
2.65
121
3
37
48.6%
2.78
123
3
37
45.9%
3.35
124
3
35
45.7%
3.57
125
4
42
45.2%
3.24
126
4
40
45%
3.75
127
3
36
44.4%
2.81
127
3
36
44.4%
3.33
129
3
38
42.1%
3.66
130
3
34
41.2%
3.09
131
3
37
40.5%
3.59
132
3
31
38.7%
4.19
133
3
30
36.7%
3.43
(Photo: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)
2023-09-26 22:02:52
#College #football #stop #rate #rankings #Penn #States #defense #Oklahoma #UGA #lurking
