James Madison has finally moved into the AP Top 25. One key factor behind the Dukes’ 7-0 start that’s finally earning some national respect? An extremely disruptive defense that has climbed to No. 12 nationally in stop rate.
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.
James Madison brought one of the best defenses in the country to the Sun Belt last year and finished No. 7 in stop rate (75.5 percent) in its first season playing at the FBS level. They’ve had no trouble matching that production so far in 2023, with a 75.9 percent stop rate against FBS opponents. This unit doesn’t rank among the top 25 nationally in scoring defense but is off to an incredible start by many other measures.
The Dukes’ defense is No. 1 nationally in tackles for loss with 73 for minus-347 yards. They’re No. 1 in sacks, too, with 34 for minus-254 yards. Ten negative plays per game might not sound like a ton, but it makes a massive difference in helping a defense get stops and win close games.
James Madison senior defensive lineman Jalen Green, a member of The Athletic’s midseason All-America team, leads the country with a whopping 18 tackles for loss and 13 sacks. Green racked up a school-record five sacks against Marshall, the most in an FBS game since 2019, and has been credited with an FBS-leading 44 pressures according to PFF.
Here’s the other benefit of all that havoc they’re creating: James Madison also has the No. 1 run defense in the FBS. Because once you factor in all those sacks, the net result is they’ve allowed 253 rushing yards on 204 rushes. That’s 36.1 yards per game. That’s insane.
Marshall was missing top back Rasheen Ali and ended up with minus-4 rushing yards on 32 attempts. How does that happen? Because quarterback Cam Fancher was sacked eight times and finished with minus-66 rushing yards. This run defense has stopped the great ones, too. Troy’s Kimani Vidal is currently the nation’s leading rusher (951 yards) but gained just 27 yards on 11 carries against JMU.
If you don’t factor in all the sacks, James Madison would still be No. 1 nationally in run defense at 507 yards allowed on 2.98 yards per carry.
That dominance is a credit to defensive coordinator Bryant Haines, who took over this crew in 2022 after DC Corey Hetherman left for a job at Rutgers. Haines was a longtime assistant under coach Curt Cignetti dating back to 2014, following him from IUP to Elon to JMU, and he and his fellow assistants have done an impressive job handling the transition to the FBS and preparing for a brand new schedule of Sun Belt opponents. The Dukes have lost some key starters to Power 5 programs via the portal, including pass rusher Isaac Ukwu (Ole Miss) departing after the spring, but that hasn’t slowed them down. The future looks quite bright, too, considering six of their top 10 defenders in terms of snaps played are sophomores or freshmen.
It’s flat-out wrong that this undefeated James Madison team is ineligible for postseason play as a transitioning FBS member and can’t get a waiver from the NCAA to drop that restriction. We’ll see if mounting political pressure can make a difference. The Dukes deserve an opportunity to play for a Sun Belt trophy, and their excellent defense is a big reason why.
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 9.
Note: All data is courtesy of TruMedia and Pro Football Focus.
Rk
Defense
G
Drives
Stop Rate
Pts/Drive
1
8
81
88.9%
0.58
2
6
71
84.5%
0.86
3
6
68
82.4%
0.93
4
6
75
80%
1.01
5
6
66
78.8%
1.26
6
6
66
77.3%
1.38
7
8
104
76.9%
1.05
8
7
86
76.7%
1.38
9
6
68
76.5%
1.35
10
6
67
76.1%
1.37
11
6
71
76.1%
1.44
12
6
83
75.9%
1.48
13
7
74
75.7%
1.47
14
6
57
75.4%
1.53
15
6
65
75.4%
1.55
16
7
73
75.3%
1.29
17
7
84
73.8%
1.26
18
8
94
73.4%
1.40
19
7
82
73.2%
1.60
20
7
92
72.8%
1.63
21
6
77
72.7%
1.56
21
7
77
72.7%
1.43
23
6
68
72.1%
1.65
24
7
78
71.8%
1.69
25
7
81
71.6%
1.51
26
7
77
71.4%
1.42
27
6
75
70.7%
1.55
28
6
74
70.3%
1.85
29
6
67
70.1%
1.64
30
6
70
70%
1.99
30
7
80
70%
1.60
32
6
63
69.8%
1.76
33
7
76
69.7%
1.70
34
7
75
69.3%
1.71
35
6
68
69.1%
1.69
36
7
80
68.8%
1.69
37
7
83
68.7%
1.92
38
6
70
68.6%
1.80
39
7
82
68.3%
1.83
40
6
63
68.3%
1.78
41
6
72
68.1%
1.72
42
7
78
67.9%
1.76
43
7
81
67.9%
1.90
44
6
71
67.6%
1.79
45
6
73
67.1%
2.00
46
6
79
67.1%
2.00
47
6
66
66.7%
1.85
48
7
74
66.2%
1.91
49
6
71
66.2%
2.04
50
7
88
65.9%
2.01
51
6
76
65.8%
1.99
52
6
64
65.6%
2.11
53
7
87
65.5%
2.08
54
6
84
65.5%
1.99
55
6
78
65.4%
2.18
56
6
66
65.2%
2.14
57
6
63
65.1%
2.08
58
7
80
65%
1.95
59
6
68
64.7%
1.76
60
6
73
64.4%
2.16
61
7
75
64%
2.19
62
7
74
63.5%
2.11
63
7
82
63.4%
2.06
64
7
81
63%
2.11
65
6
75
62.7%
2.25
66
6
72
62.5%
2.25
67
6
74
62.2%
2.20
68
8
100
62%
2.30
69
6
71
62%
2.21
69
6
71
62%
2.18
71
6
68
61.8%
2.26
71
6
68
61.8%
2.18
73
6
70
61.4%
2.19
74
7
77
61%
2.17
75
6
69
60.9%
2.36
75
6
69
60.9%
2.32
77
7
84
60.7%
2.21
78
6
71
60.6%
2.25
79
6
68
60.3%
2.57
80
7
80
60%
2.40
80
7
90
60%
2.62
82
7
84
59.5%
2.44
82
7
84
59.5%
2.45
84
7
74
59.5%
2.57
85
7
86
59.3%
2.43
86
6
66
59.1%
2.20
86
6
66
59.1%
2.44
88
6
70
58.6%
2.64
89
7
77
58.4%
2.66
90
7
89
58.4%
2.29
91
6
74
58.1%
2.58
92
6
69
58%
2.26
92
6
69
58%
2.41
94
6
71
57.7%
2.63
95
7
87
57.5%
2.72
96
8
91
57.1%
2.30
96
7
77
57.1%
2.62
96
7
77
57.1%
2.47
99
7
88
56.8%
2.69
100
7
85
56.5%
2.79
101
6
64
56.3%
2.42
102
7
73
56.2%
2.49
102
6
73
56.2%
2.48
104
6
65
55.4%
2.62
104
6
65
55.4%
2.28
106
6
67
55.2%
2.93
106
6
67
55.2%
2.72
108
6
69
55.1%
2.29
108
6
69
55.1%
2.58
110
6
71
54.9%
2.96
111
6
66
54.5%
2.97
112
6
70
54.3%
2.73
113
6
67
53.7%
2.94
114
6
69
53.6%
3.20
115
6
79
53.2%
2.56
116
6
64
53.1%
2.70
117
7
72
52.8%
3.19
118
7
78
52.6%
3.08
119
7
86
52.3%
2.88
120
6
69
52.2%
2.68
121
6
66
51.5%
2.77
122
6
65
50.8%
2.94
123
7
73
50.7%
2.75
123
6
73
50.7%
2.66
125
7
81
49.4%
2.98
126
6
66
47%
2.94
127
6
71
46.5%
3.61
128
8
92
45.7%
3.38
129
6
71
45.1%
3.17
130
7
80
43.8%
3.60
131
7
82
42.7%
3.51
132
7
72
40.3%
3.56
133
6
59
39%
3.42
(Photo: Hannah Pajewski / USA Today)
2023-10-24 17:50:55
#College #football #stop #rate #rankings #James #Madisons #defense #FBSready
