2009 NCAA S&P+ RATINGS, DEFENSE

through games of 1/7/10

The S&P+ Ratings are a college football ratings system derived from the play-by-play data of all 800+ of a season's FBS college football games (and 140,000+ plays). There are three key components to the S&P+:

Success Rate: A common Football Outsiders tool used to measure efficiency by determining whether every play of a given game was successful or not. The terms of success in college football: 50 percent of necessary yardage on first down, 70 percent on second down, and 100 percent on third and fourth down.
EqPts Per Play (PPP): An explosiveness measure derived from determining the point value of every yard line (based on the expected number of points an offense could expect to score from that yard line) and, therefore, every play of a given game.
Opponent adjustments: Success Rate and PPP combine to form S&P, an OPS-like measure for football. Then each team's S&P output for a given category (Rushing/Passing on either Standard Downs or Passing Downs) is compared to the expected output based upon their opponents and their opponents' opponents. This is a schedule-based adjustment designed to reward tougher schedules and punish weaker ones.

The S&P+ figures used in the tables below only look at the plays that took place while a game was deemed "close," or competitive. The criteria for being "close" are as follows: a game within 24 points in the first quarter, with 21 points in the second quarter, and within 16 points in the second half.

Passing Downs are defined as:

second down with 8 or more yards to go
third or fourth down with 5 or more yards to go

All other downs are Standard Downs Please note that in the split of rushing and passing S&P+, sacks are counted as passes, as in NFL data, and not runs as in official NCAA totals.

Use the menu above for pages that give more details on total and offensive S&P+, or our other college football ratings, the drive-based FEI.

Defense	Def. S&P+	Rk	Success Rate+	Rk	PPP+	Rk	Rushing S&P+	Rk	Passing S&P+	Rk	Std. Downs S&P+	Rk	Pass. Downs S&P+	Rk
Alabama	151.5	1	137.9	2	179.9	3	141.0	4	164.9	2	150.2	1	155.1	9
TCU	150.7	2	141.3	1	159.7	8	147.8	1	149.6	6	143.3	3	140.8	10
Florida	148.1	3	129.0	5	193.3	1	137.9	5	162.6	4	132.1	9	187.4	3
Nebraska	147.4	4	129.9	4	186.9	2	131.9	10	164.9	3	136.4	5	194.4	1
Oklahoma	146.0	5	137.1	3	172.4	6	137.0	7	161.2	5	145.3	2	173.6	5
Iowa	140.8	6	126.1	7	175.5	5	125.0	14	166.7	1	142.8	4	133.2	14
Ohio State	138.4	7	121.8	8	179.5	4	135.4	9	148.1	7	133.8	7	180.8	4
Penn State	134.0	8	120.5	10	147.9	11	123.1	18	137.6	13	115.5	20	138.6	12
Texas	133.3	9	119.8	12	160.5	7	137.2	6	133.2	16	127.9	12	192.9	2
Boise State	130.4	10	127.7	6	137.7	15	123.3	16	140.0	9	111.8	32	171.9	7
LSU	127.7	11	118.4	16	153.7	10	130.7	11	132.6	17	135.6	6	120.6	21
Clemson	127.7	12	121.1	9	144.3	12	128.8	13	128.7	18	131.3	10	128.5	16
North Carolina	127.5	13	114.6	21	154.0	9	124.4	15	134.1	15	125.2	13	168.2	8
Virginia Tech	125.4	14	120.4	11	131.9	20	113.6	29	138.7	11	133.0	8	124.2	19
Utah	124.6	15	119.4	13	133.3	17	113.8	27	138.9	10	114.8	22	134.7	13
Air Force	124.3	16	115.5	19	136.2	16	118.9	21	126.6	20	113.1	28	131.8	15
South Carolina	123.1	17	116.9	17	142.3	13	114.6	26	143.1	8	118.6	16	172.1	6
Ole Miss	121.5	18	115.7	18	127.6	22	108.2	43	137.8	12	120.6	15	115.4	30
Oregon	121.4	19	118.9	14	132.3	19	130.6	12	118.8	25	129.2	11	115.6	28
Middle Tennessee	119.1	20	118.6	15	118.1	35	117.0	23	118.2	27	114.8	23	114.3	33
Defense	Def. S&P+	Rk	Success Rate+	Rk	PPP+	Rk	Rushing S&P+	Rk	Passing S&P+	Rk	Std. Downs S&P+	Rk	Pass. Downs S&P+	Rk
Boston College	118.5	21	111.6	26	130.8	21	135.6	8	109.4	35	111.8	31	139.7	11
Arizona State	118.0	22	114.1	22	118.5	34	113.3	33	118.8	24	121.2	14	116.4	26
West Virginia	117.1	23	112.3	25	127.4	23	120.9	20	117.0	28	114.5	24	119.2	22
Oklahoma State	117.0	24	107.8	31	138.1	14	114.8	25	121.3	23	116.4	19	124.6	18
Wisconsin	116.2	25	114.7	20	121.9	29	143.2	2	106.2	41	118.5	17	112.3	39
Tennessee	114.4	26	103.5	44	132.8	18	107.9	44	124.9	21	110.4	35	124.8	17
Texas Tech	113.7	27	105.7	35	127.2	24	100.4	56	126.8	19	108.2	38	119.2	23
Miami-FL	113.4	28	110.2	28	121.3	32	123.2	17	107.6	38	117.0	18	104.0	53
Central Florida	111.1	29	110.1	29	113.6	38	141.4	3	97.4	63	111.4	33	108.7	40
BYU	111.1	30	111.1	27	111.8	39	109.6	39	114.2	30	110.4	34	113.2	37
Virginia	111.1	31	105.3	36	121.7	30	102.4	55	122.0	22	110.2	37	118.7	25
Purdue	110.7	32	113.6	23	116.7	36	97.2	69	137.2	14	113.1	26	113.7	36
Pittsburgh	109.9	33	103.0	46	121.5	31	106.6	48	114.5	29	105.5	46	122.0	20
South Florida	109.7	34	104.6	39	122.7	27	112.5	35	111.0	33	115.0	21	114.2	35
UCLA	109.2	35	102.0	49	123.8	25	110.8	37	109.8	34	112.4	29	118.9	24
Rutgers	109.0	36	100.3	56	108.6	44	109.5	40	99.4	58	100.3	58	116.1	27
USC	108.8	37	99.8	59	122.9	26	99.0	62	118.3	26	105.8	44	108.0	43
Ohio	107.3	38	103.2	45	108.6	45	109.2	42	101.4	54	108.0	39	114.7	32
East Carolina	106.6	39	99.6	60	122.1	28	110.1	38	108.6	36	106.9	40	108.1	41
Troy	106.4	40	109.9	30	108.2	46	113.3	32	105.6	43	100.0	60	105.6	49
Defense	Def. S&P+	Rk	Success Rate+	Rk	PPP+	Rk	Rushing S&P+	Rk	Passing S&P+	Rk	Std. Downs S&P+	Rk	Pass. Downs S&P+	Rk
Arizona	106.1	41	105.0	38	107.8	47	97.4	67	113.9	31	111.8	30	90.7	85
Colorado	105.9	42	113.4	24	101.7	54	113.6	30	101.5	53	113.5	25	100.6	61
Mississippi State	105.8	43	104.5	41	119.0	33	115.9	24	103.5	46	110.3	36	114.2	34
Minnesota	105.5	44	102.1	48	113.8	37	107.2	45	106.9	40	113.1	27	87.7	93
Arkansas	104.6	45	105.2	37	109.9	41	113.7	28	101.6	52	101.6	55	115.5	29
Auburn	104.4	46	101.9	50	110.4	40	98.9	64	111.1	32	100.4	57	115.3	31
Louisiana Tech	103.2	47	101.7	51	109.8	42	103.6	52	107.9	37	106.8	41	105.5	50
Central Michigan	102.8	48	96.1	75	105.5	50	95.7	73	102.8	49	93.2	84	106.3	48
Connecticut	102.1	49	98.0	65	107.7	48	105.0	49	99.8	55	99.6	62	103.6	54
Georgia	102.0	50	102.2	47	104.4	52	113.5	31	93.8	71	105.8	45	107.8	45
Michigan State	101.2	51	107.6	32	100.3	57	117.3	22	97.5	62	106.2	43	101.5	59
Vanderbilt	100.6	52	96.7	72	98.8	60	97.0	70	99.2	59	101.4	56	101.3	60
Cincinnati	100.1	53	94.0	87	108.9	43	106.7	47	94.1	69	103.7	51	93.8	75
Navy	100.0	54	94.6	84	107.5	49	104.9	50	95.0	67	98.4	70	95.0	73
Syracuse	99.4	55	104.5	40	94.9	67	122.1	19	86.0	94	102.6	52	108.1	42
Oregon State	98.8	56	97.0	68	105.0	51	102.7	53	99.2	60	103.7	50	90.7	84
Army	98.6	57	96.1	74	84.0	100	95.9	72	80.3	110	98.7	68	74.1	115
Kent State	98.5	58	96.9	69	86.5	93	93.3	82	91.3	79	97.4	72	92.6	78
Tulsa	98.5	59	106.5	34	89.7	81	107.0	46	90.2	80	104.3	49	97.8	69
Wake Forest	98.2	60	100.8	55	102.6	53	98.5	65	106.2	42	102.0	53	99.8	63
Defense	Def. S&P+	Rk	Success Rate+	Rk	PPP+	Rk	Rushing S&P+	Rk	Passing S&P+	Rk	Std. Downs S&P+	Rk	Pass. Downs S&P+	Rk
Notre Dame	97.5	61	101.4	52	101.3	55	109.4	41	93.9	70	104.6	48	106.7	47
Kentucky	97.4	62	100.9	54	92.5	70	99.3	60	94.1	68	105.0	47	103.2	56
California	97.4	63	101.0	53	88.8	84	111.2	36	86.7	89	99.6	63	98.9	65
Texas A&M	97.3	64	97.2	67	99.3	59	93.3	83	102.6	50	92.8	88	107.8	44
Northwestern	97.2	65	98.1	64	92.2	71	94.4	80	97.0	64	94.1	81	101.6	58
Missouri	97.0	66	95.6	80	100.5	56	102.7	54	92.7	75	106.7	42	88.7	91
Michigan	96.8	67	104.1	42	90.9	77	91.2	92	104.6	44	99.6	64	95.6	71
Baylor	96.7	68	96.0	78	100.1	58	91.6	91	103.4	47	98.0	71	104.6	52
Bowling Green	96.6	69	99.8	58	92.9	68	88.0	100	103.8	45	89.3	101	112.3	38
Marshall	96.6	70	96.8	71	97.2	61	94.9	76	99.6	56	98.5	69	95.8	70
Temple	95.9	71	88.6	105	91.5	74	99.2	61	81.5	105	94.3	80	86.9	95
New Mexico State	95.2	72	99.2	62	92.7	69	92.8	86	99.1	61	97.3	74	90.0	88
SMU	95.2	73	94.8	82	91.5	73	93.8	81	92.9	74	100.0	61	90.7	83
Wyoming	95.0	74	96.1	76	96.6	63	93.2	85	99.5	57	95.1	78	99.0	64
Kansas	94.7	75	96.2	73	88.3	88	81.4	112	102.8	48	92.3	91	102.6	57
Southern Miss	94.3	76	93.4	88	91.4	75	99.0	63	86.8	88	93.5	82	90.2	87
Washington	93.9	77	94.3	86	97.1	62	99.9	58	92.5	76	100.3	59	95.4	72
Maryland	93.8	78	95.9	79	91.7	72	100.3	57	88.3	85	99.2	66	86.1	99
Nevada	93.6	79	106.7	33	86.0	94	113.3	34	88.5	83	101.8	54	85.0	104
Buffalo	93.3	80	87.9	107	95.5	66	83.9	108	96.1	66	90.8	96	93.4	77
Defense	Def. S&P+	Rk	Success Rate+	Rk	PPP+	Rk	Rushing S&P+	Rk	Passing S&P+	Rk	Std. Downs S&P+	Rk	Pass. Downs S&P+	Rk
San Diego State	93.2	81	100.2	57	79.4	106	95.1	75	84.6	101	99.4	65	77.6	111
UL-Monroe	93.1	82	91.1	93	88.9	83	92.6	87	86.5	91	88.6	103	97.8	68
Northern Illinois	92.9	83	96.9	70	83.8	101	96.9	71	86.3	92	97.4	73	98.5	66
Kansas State	92.6	84	89.1	102	85.3	96	94.5	79	81.9	104	87.8	104	97.9	67
Georgia Tech	92.5	85	97.5	66	86.7	91	93.3	84	89.7	82	96.4	76	81.1	107
Indiana	92.4	86	95.3	81	88.6	85	95.1	74	88.3	84	91.3	94	92.3	79
Illinois	91.9	87	92.2	91	95.8	65	88.9	97	96.1	65	92.7	89	88.0	92
Louisville	91.4	88	91.0	94	91.4	76	94.7	77	86.6	90	99.0	67	85.6	102
Fresno State	91.2	89	103.9	43	80.6	105	94.5	78	89.8	81	96.7	75	84.1	105
Utah State	90.9	90	99.5	61	85.9	95	92.1	89	93.4	73	96.2	77	86.9	97
UAB	90.8	91	94.4	85	89.9	79	103.8	51	84.8	100	92.8	87	79.7	109
Miami-OH	90.8	92	94.7	83	90.4	78	82.9	111	101.9	51	88.7	102	105.3	51
Arkansas State	90.7	93	90.1	97	83.3	104	97.4	68	78.1	114	85.4	110	107.3	46
Florida State	90.7	94	98.5	63	86.5	92	90.5	94	93.7	72	89.5	100	103.2	55
Duke	90.6	95	90.1	96	84.0	99	86.8	102	87.0	87	90.2	97	77.0	112
Ball State	90.4	96	89.7	99	88.4	86	99.5	59	79.3	113	89.7	99	86.1	100
Memphis	90.4	97	96.0	77	89.7	80	97.4	66	88.0	86	91.9	92	91.3	82
Colorado State	89.5	98	91.2	92	88.0	89	87.5	101	91.9	78	89.8	98	94.8	74
San Jose State	88.7	99	89.7	98	96.0	64	84.1	106	107.5	39	90.9	95	99.8	62
Stanford	88.5	100	87.1	109	89.6	82	92.6	88	83.7	102	93.5	83	86.3	98
Defense	Def. S&P+	Rk	Success Rate+	Rk	PPP+	Rk	Rushing S&P+	Rk	Passing S&P+	Rk	Std. Downs S&P+	Rk	Pass. Downs S&P+	Rk
Akron	88.5	101	88.7	103	83.4	102	85.1	105	85.5	96	95.1	79	73.3	116
Florida International	88.2	102	93.2	89	87.7	90	89.0	96	92.0	77	91.9	93	85.8	101
Iowa State	87.7	103	80.6	120	88.4	87	91.8	90	75.5	117	86.5	106	86.9	96
New Mexico	87.4	104	92.7	90	83.4	103	90.4	95	86.2	93	93.0	86	83.7	106
UL-Lafayette	86.9	105	89.6	100	78.7	108	88.3	99	79.5	112	93.1	85	66.4	119
Western Michigan	85.9	106	88.6	104	74.1	115	83.1	110	81.2	107	84.8	112	85.5	103
UTEP	85.6	107	90.2	95	78.5	109	83.3	109	85.0	98	92.3	90	72.6	117
Houston	85.5	108	89.4	101	78.9	107	84.0	107	84.9	99	86.0	108	90.3	86
UNLV	83.9	109	87.2	108	84.4	97	86.3	103	85.1	97	85.1	111	93.5	76
Hawaii	83.6	110	83.3	115	84.1	98	85.9	104	79.7	111	84.2	113	92.1	81
Toledo	81.7	111	86.4	110	69.4	117	76.9	115	78.1	115	80.7	115	77.6	110
North Texas	81.5	112	83.3	116	73.8	116	76.7	116	80.4	109	78.4	117	92.3	80
Idaho	81.3	113	86.1	111	77.2	110	90.8	93	74.8	118	85.7	109	76.1	113
Rice	81.1	114	88.2	106	75.8	112	88.4	98	76.5	116	83.3	114	81.0	108
Tulane	81.0	115	83.8	113	76.7	111	78.7	113	80.9	108	86.6	105	62.3	120
NC State	80.8	116	83.7	114	74.7	114	76.2	118	83.0	103	78.6	116	89.0	89
Washington State	76.4	117	82.8	117	75.8	113	77.2	114	81.2	106	86.1	107	88.8	90
Eastern Michigan	76.1	118	84.2	112	63.8	119	68.8	120	86.0	95	74.3	119	87.1	94
Western Kentucky	75.1	119	80.9	119	69.4	118	76.6	117	72.7	120	77.8	118	68.2	118
Florida Atlantic	74.9	120	81.6	118	63.7	120	72.3	119	72.9	119	73.9	120	75.4	114