Ranking SEC Defenses

[YaketySax]

Was looking at ESPN's FPI rankings of Efficiencies, as one does on a Friday night, and thought a couple of defensive numbers of SEC teams were interesting.

(Keep in mind FPI is strength of schedule adjusted. Also, "projected results are based on 20,000 simulations of the rest of the season using FPI, results to date, and the remaining schedule. Ratings and projections update daily." Yada yada.)

Best SEC defenses ranked in order, and the number next to the team (in parenthesis) is the national ranking.

1. Georgia (1) - no surprise
2. Alabama (3) - no surprise
3. Kentucky (5) - the 2018 defense finished 19th in the country so FPI loves this year's defense.
4. Miss St (9)
5. Missouri (12)
6. LSU (15)
...
8. Tennessee (32)
9. Ole Miss (45)
...
14. Vandy (94)

Missouri has a better defense than I realized. That game in Columbia will be a tough one. Tennessee's defense is a little better than Ole Miss.

P.S. UofL's defensive ranking is 24th nationally which also surprised me. When did the Cardinals get a good defense?

 

[Justwantadecentteam]

That defense going to look alot better once the special teams and offense get to rolling

 

[FtWorthCat]

State's offense was averaging 38.5 ppg before they played UK. They scored 17 on UK. One TD was a pick 6, so that's not on our defense. The other TD was set up by a UK fumble at about our own 20. Huepel is running the same offense, with wider splits. Huepel was Leach's first QB at OU, his next QB after Couch. Nothing special about what Huepel is doing that we can't slow them down at least.

 

[Nuke99m]

P.S. UofL's defensive ranking is 24th nationally which also surprised me. When did the Cardinals get a good defense?

UL’s ranking might be a reflection of who they have played, not how good they are. They are coming in to the hardest part of their schedule now.

 

[SaltyCat22]

Who invented bye weeks? That guy sucks balls.

 

[K_TIME]

Was looking at ESPN's FPI rankings of Efficiencies, as one does on a Friday night, and thought a couple of defensive numbers of SEC teams were interesting.

(Keep in mind FPI is strength of schedule adjusted. Also, "projected results are based on 20,000 simulations of the rest of the season using FPI, results to date, and the remaining schedule. Ratings and projections update daily." Yada yada.)

Best SEC defenses ranked in order, and the number next to the team (in parenthesis) is the national ranking.

1. Georgia (1) - no surprise
2. Alabama (3) - no surprise
3. Kentucky (5) - the 2018 defense finished 19th in the country so FPI loves this year's defense.
4. Miss St (9)
5. Missouri (12)
6. LSU (15)
...
8. Tennessee (32)
9. Ole Miss (45)
...
14. Vandy (94)

Missouri has a better defense than I realized. That game in Columbia will be a tough one. Tennessee's defense is a little better than Ole Miss.

P.S. UofL's defensive ranking is 24th nationally which also surprised me. When did the Cardinals get a good defense?

The most eye opening is how is Bama 2nd best in SEC defensively.
- Tennessee embarrassed them...especially the DBs
- Texas AM and Arkansas scored some in those games
- Texas was lighting them up until the starting QB got hurt and backup was not very good
- They are shutting down bad teams like Vandy and Non conference scrubs

I look for Miss st to get to 30's on them today.

 

[HerrosHeroes]

State's offense was averaging 38.5 ppg before they played UK. They scored 17 on UK. One TD was a pick 6, so that's not on our defense. The other TD was set up by a UK fumble at about our own 20. Huepel is running the same offense, with wider splits. Huepel was Leach's first QB at OU, his next QB after Couch. Nothing special about what Huepel is doing that we can't slow them down at least.

Kentucky’s D is extremely underrated because offense sells. I promise you UK and Brad White will give UT fits all day mixing in various coverages and blitz packages.

 

[YaketySax]

UL’s ranking might be a reflection of who they have played, not how good they are. They are coming in to the hardest part of their schedule now.

The current rankings are opponent adjusted though. I assume they will regress a bit too at the same time.

 

[The-Hack]

The current rankings are opponent adjusted though. I assume they will regress a bit too at the same time.

UT scores a lot of points. UGA will score some. I don’t see Mizzou, U of L, Vandy mixed with UT and UGA much exceeding our current average.

 

[YaketySax]

UT scores a lot of points. UGA will score some. I don’t see Mizzou, U of L, Vandy mixed with UT and UGA much exceeding our current average.

My comment was specific to UofL but I agree with regards to UK. UT and UGA will be a big challenge each. UofL is a rivalry game so maybe something funky happens but otherwise feel good about UKs defense.

 

[kyleb740]

FPI is a really poor system. If you want to stick with ESPN Bill Connelly puts out SP+ which has proven much better through the years.

SEC Defenses:
Uga 4
A&M 6
UK 7
Bama 10
Ole Miss 16
LSU 21
Miss St 22
USC 27
Mizz 28
Aub 35
Tenn 40
FL 62
Ark 69
Vandy 108

Louisville is 64

 

[YaketySax]

FPI is a really poor system. If you want to stick with ESPN Bill Connelly puts out SP+ which has proven much better through the years.

SEC Defenses:
Uga 4
A&M 6
UK 7
Bama 10
Ole Miss 16
LSU 21
Miss St 22
USC 27
Mizz 28
Aub 35
Tenn 40
FL 62
Ark 69
Vandy 108

Louisville is 64

I prefer sp+ too but it was down last night for whatever reason and I couldn’t login to ESPN+. Thanks for adding.

since both systems are opponent adjusted and play-by-play I assume fpi thinks more highly of the offenses UofL has played relative to sp+