College football defensive stop rate at midseason
Texas' defense currently ranks No. 1 in FBS in several categories: Scoring defense, total defense, yards per play and yards per attempt. Here's one more metric in which the top-ranked Longhorns are the best of the best at midseason: 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. Defensive coordinators have the same goal regardless of their scheme, opponent or conference: Prevent points and get off the field. Stop rate is a simple metric but can offer a good reflection of a defense's effectiveness on a per-drive basis in today's faster-tempo game.
Last year, national champ Michigan finished No. 1 with a defensive stop rate of 81.6% in its games against FBS opponents. The top 25 teams in the final 2023 stop rate standings won a total of 249 games, with seven taking home conference titles. Great teams find a way to get stops in critical situations.
To be clear, stop rate is not an advanced stat and is no substitute for Bill Connelly's SP+ or other more comprehensive metrics. It's merely a different method for evaluating success on defense.
Six games in, Texas' defense has been remarkably successful. The Longhorns moved into the No. 1 spot in the stop rate standings with a stop rate of 87.1% following their 34-3 rout of No. 18 Oklahoma. Their rival got 12 drives against this unit and didn't reach the red zone until the final 30 seconds of the fourth quarter.
It's extremely difficult to sustain drives against Pete Kwiatkowski's crew. They've allowed 38 points over 75 drives, with two of the three touchdowns given up coming in fourth-quarter garbage time. The Longhorns have given up the fewest explosives (nine plays of 20+ yards), have a 7-to-1 interception to touchdown ratio against the pass and have allowed just one TD in seven red-zone trips.
Texas' defense finished 21st in stop rate (70.7%) last year, sliding a bit in the final standings after Michael Penix Jr. and Washington lit up their secondary. Kwiatkowski and his staff lost four NFL Draft picks from that defense but have gotten even better, developing blue-chip talent and depth at all three levels. And it certainly helps that this defense has played with a lead on 88% of its snaps this season heading into its showdown with No. 5 Georgia.
Where is Georgia in these stop rate standings? All the way down at No. 60, just above the national average at 63.5%. The Bulldogs' D slid from 46th to 60th after allowing 31 points against Mississippi State. That's the most points an unranked opponent has scored against Georgia since 2015
Ohio State was in the No. 1 spot a week ago but dropped to No. 4 after struggling to stop Dillon Gabriel and the Ducks' passing attack in a 32-31 defeat. Tennessee climbed to No. 3 this week with a stop rate of 82% after getting 10 stops in its 23-17 overtime win over Florida.
But the team at No. 2 this week is one you might not expect: Army. The 6-0 Black Knights defense ranks 54thin SP+ and 47th in defensive efficiency but is only surrendering 9.8 points per game. Nobody has figured out a way to score more than 14 on them, in part because they aren't getting many chances. Army's defense has played an FBS-low 54 drives this season and has only given up 59 points. Their offense dominates time of possession by an average margin of 8:55 per game (third-best in FBS). When you can finish drives and control games like they have, a few timely stops on defense can go a long way.
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 8.
Note: All data is courtesy of TruMedia. Games against FCS opponents and end-of-half drives in which the opponent took a knee or ran out the clock were filtered out.
