COLLEGE FOOTBALL THOR+ RATINGS SINCE 2000: DEFENSE

This week I come bearing a much more pleasurable chart. This week, I bring you defense!

College Football Defense+ Ratings Since 2000

As I'm sure you already know, hovering over each team's ring will give you a summary of that team. Also, clicking on a team's ring will highlight every season from 2000-2013 to give you an idea of which way that unit is trending. Finally, defense is measured the same way that offense was measured in the last post. The only real difference is the category that measures tackles for loss per play is labeled "Pressure" rather than "Blocking."

With that short primer in mind, here's Iowa:

Rank	Team	Year	Season Rank	Passing	Rushing	Turnovers	Pressure	Defense	Defense+
1	Iowa	2008	3	140	125	141	92	158	159
2	Iowa	2003	4	115	136	93	N/A	146	156
3	Iowa	2009	8	156	112	135	99	149	151
4	Iowa	2004	12	127	129	147	N/A	133	142
5	Iowa	2005	15	88	120	62	94	129	141
6	Iowa	2010	13	123	119	115	89	138	140
7	Iowa	2007	12	113	118	97	91	139	137
8	Iowa	2013	15	121	117	93	101	128	132
9	Iowa	2002	30	110	135	107	N/A	121	126
10	Iowa	2001	29	101	119	83	N/A	117	124
11	Iowa	2012	35	89	110	117	79	116	120
12	Iowa	2011	36	94	113	77	76	115	118
13	Iowa	2006	37	104	111	79	85	111	117
14	Iowa	2000	48	72	83	68	N/A	97	110

Does anybody really disagree with a top four of 2008, 2003, 2009, and 2004? I mean, we can definitely quibble about the order of the top four, but I think we can all probably agree that those were, hands down, the best Iowa defenses of this era.

If we are looking for patterns with the Iowa defense under Kirk Ferentz, I think the most blatantly obvious one would be that his teams simply do not surrender a lot of points. The 2000 defense was the only one that was below average in points per play allowed before the opponent adjustment. Of course, after the opponent adjustment, that defense rated out at 10% above average. This should not surprise many people, due to the fact that Iowa rarely gets blown out of football games. They do this by holding their opponents to a greater number of field goal attempts relative to the number of touchdowns they give up. To give a better look at this, here's another chart:

Defensive Touchdowns Allowed vs. Opponent Field Goal Attempts

As you can see, besides the 2000 season, the Iowa defenses have been better than most FBS teams at forcing their opponents to settle for field goal attempts more often than they have allowed them to end a drive by scoring six. To reference ahead in the post a little, I also highlighted Indiana to contrast with Iowa's bend, but don't break defense. The Hoosiers' bend, the stick snaps, you get a splinter in your eye and go blind defense for the past 14 seasons hasn't worked out quite so well for them and their carousel of coaches.

The second pattern we can see is that Iowa always shuts down the run, first and foremost. Outside of the 2000 season, the Hawkeyes' lowest rushing rating on defense was 110 by the 2012 defense, and that number would be higher once adjusted for strength of schedule. The coaching staff preaches technique and fundamentals, and it seems to really shine through when it comes to stopping the run. They rarely allow their opponent to gash them to death on the ground.

The third real constant we can observe, is that Iowa is not historically a pressure team under Kirk Ferentz. I say historically, because that may be slightly changing. With Norm Parker at defensive coordinator, Iowa was perfectly fine rushing the front four and dropping seven guys back into zone coverage on most every play. In order to have a high pressure rating with that strategy, you would need some great defensive linemen. Iowa has had quite a few of those over the past decade and change - 2003 and 2004 unfortunately do not have pressure ratings - but with the spread offense becoming so prevalent, it's gotten harder and harder to get to the quarterback before he gets the ball out. Hence, this explains why Iowa has not had particularly high pressure ratings over the years.

Last year, however, under the direction of Phil Parker, the Hawkeyes had a 101 pressure rating before adjusting upward for strength of opponent. That was the best mark since 2005, which is as far back as that metric goes. Now, is last year's higher pressure rating a sign of things changing? Was it just a sign that Iowa had three hell demons at linebacker? Or was it a sign of both? I think it was probably both. There's no doubt that the trio of Hitchens, Morris, and Kirksey was one of the best linebacking cores we've ever seen don the black and gold. Thus, it's going to be difficult to replicate their instincts and ability to rush the passer. However, in two seasons, Phil Parker has demonstrated that he's not afraid to change things up a bit. He seems to mix coverages, he's gotten creative by adding the Raider package into the fold, and he's also shown that he's not afraid send the blitz. I doubt Iowa is ever going to be a crazy high pressure team under Kirk Ferentz, but it's not all that unreasonable to think that sending more than four guys more often might lead to higher pressure ratings, on average, in the future.

But what we see here, overall, is that as long as Kirk Ferentz is coaching, Iowa defenses are always more than likely going to shut down the run and make teams work extra hard to get the ball across the goal line. They may allow the opposing team to move the ball through the air a bit some years, but they are usually very good at bending, rather than breaking.

Per usual, let's look at the best defenses from the Big Ten during this time period:

Rank	Team	Year	Coach	Season Rank	Passing	Rushing	Turnovers	Pressure	Defense	Defense+
1	Ohio State	2002	Jim Tressel	1	116	133	109	N/A	154	163
2	Ohio State	2005	Jim Tressel	3	115	132	56	118	139	159
3	Michigan	2001	Lloyd Carr	3	116	135	79	N/A	144	159
4	Michigan State	2012	Mark Dantonio	2	136	120	84	114	155	159
5	Iowa	2008	Kirk Ferentz	3	140	125	141	92	158	159
6	Penn State	2004	Joe Paterno	4	142	119	119	N/A	155	158
7	Iowa	2003	Kirk Ferentz	4	115	136	93	N/A	146	156
8	Ohio State	2007	Jim Tressel	1	142	125	81	126	154	156
9	Penn State	2006	Joe Paterno	5	128	114	100	104	148	155
10	Penn State	2009	Joe Paterno	5	130	121	101	133	154	154
11	Purdue	2003	Joe Tiller	5	116	131	115	N/A	143	153
12	Penn State	2005	Joe Paterno	7	132	130	105	111	139	153
13	Michigan State	2013	Mark Dantonio	2	144	127	116	118	150	151
14	Ohio State	2009	Jim Tressel	7	155	123	151	109	149	151
15	Iowa	2009	Kirk Ferentz	8	156	112	135	99	149	151

Ohio State under Jim Tressel and Penn State under Joe Paterno both show up in the top 15 four times. Iowa holds its own, however, as we see the 2008 team at #5, the 2003 team at #7, and the 2009 team at #15. Really, though, there isn't a whole lot of variety here, seeing as those three teams make up 73% of the top 15.

So what about the bottom 15?

Rank	Team	Year	Coach	Season Rank	Passing	Rushing	Turnovers	Pressure	Defense	Defense+
1	Illinois	2005	Ron Zook	116	37	66	41	87	37	41
2	Indiana	2006	Terry Hoeppner	114	54	93	101	87	44	46
3	Indiana	2002	Gerry DiNardo	111	85	62	72	N/A	48	50
4	Northwestern	2002	Randy Walker	109	46	61	84	N/A	50	53
5	Indiana	2000	Cam Cameron	105	53	76	61	N/A	50	53
6	Minnesota	2010	Tim Brewster	110	63	86	89	94	48	57
7	Indiana	2010	Bill Lynch	108	57	86	58	88	62	58
8	Northwestern	2007	Pat Fitzgerald	104	73	97	65	85	66	62
9	Indiana	2011	Kevin Wilson	108	55	79	73	83	65	67
10	Indiana	2003	Gerry DiNardo	98	57	84	88	N/A	66	68
11	Indiana	2008	Bill Lynch	97	70	98	101	95	74	70
12	Minnesota	2007	Tim Brewster	98	52	72	59	78	67	70
13	Indiana	2013	Kevin Wilson	102	63	80	76	85	62	71
14	Illinois	2012	Tim Beckman	101	77	96	91	97	65	72
15	Illinois	2013	Tim Beckman	106	54	79	52	89	64	73

Well, this list doesn't have a whole lot of variety either. Indiana somehow manages to have nine separate defenses that show up in the bottom 15 since 2000. I mean, I understand that the Hoosier's have been a punchline on defense since before I was born, but wow. That takes... something. I want to say "talent", but that almost seems like an insult to the use of the word. But really, it's tough to be that bad on a consistent basis.

Finally, I'll end this with the top 15 FBS defenses since 2000:

Rank	Team	Year	Coach	Conference	Season Rank	Passing	Rushing	Turnovers	Pressure	Defense	Defense+
1	Florida State	2000	Bobby Bowden	ACC	1	137	140	132	N/A	161	177
2	Miami (Florida)	2001	Larry Coker	Big East	1	178	120	208	N/A	162	175
3	Florida State	2003	Bobby Bowden	ACC	1	120	116	131	N/A	152	175
4	Alabama	2011	Nick Saban	SEC	1	164	133	108	157	170	173
5	Florida State	2004	Bobby Bowden	ACC	1	123	140	134	N/A	161	172
6	LSU	2011	Les Miles	SEC	2	148	124	130	139	165	169
7	USC	2004	Pete Carroll	Pac-10	2	136	134	164	N/A	151	168
8	Boston College	2005	Tom O'Brien	ACC	1	116	130	78	118	155	168
9	Nebraska	2009	Bo Pelini	Big 12	1	153	119	121	112	167	168
10	USC	2006	Pete Carroll	Pac-10	1	114	115	85	111	143	166
11	Florida	2006	Urban Meyer	SEC	2	142	117	121	107	147	164
12	USC	2008	Pete Carroll	Pac-10	1	165	125	120	126	161	164
13	Notre Dame	2012	Brian Kelly	Independent	1	133	109	104	107	160	163
14	Ohio State	2002	Jim Tressel	Big Ten	1	116	133	109	N/A	154	163
15	LSU	2003	Nick Saban	SEC	2	138	140	137	N/A	152	163

In case you were curious, the 2008 Iowa defense ranks #28 since 2000.

And the bottom 15 FBS defenses since 2000:

Rank	Team	Year	Coach	Conference	Season Rank	Passing	Rushing	Turnovers	Pressure	Defense	Defense+
1	Eastern Michigan	2010	Ron English	MAC	120	21	67	63	81	1	-18
2	North Texas	2008	Todd Dodge	Sun Belt	120	36	73	67	81	0	-12
3	UTEP	2013	Sean Kugler	CUSA	124	26	68	60	76	22	0
4	New Mexico	2013	Bob Davie	MWC	123	36	65	53	78	17	1
5	Eastern Michigan	2002	Jeff Woodruff	MAC	117	23	43	43	N/A	2	2
6	Eastern Michigan	2013	Ron English	MAC	125	47	60	58	81	18	2
7	UAB	2013	Garrick McGee	CUSA	122	39	78	72	86	22	9
8	Western Kentucky	2009	David Elson	Sun Belt	120	33	76	80	72	28	10
9	Louisiana Tech	2006	Jack Bicknell	WAC	119	32	72	116	61	13	12
10	Eastern Michigan	2009	Ron English	MAC	119	94	56	117	101	28	12
11	Temple	2006	Al Golden	Independent	118	64	61	77	85	13	13
12	Idaho	2008	Robb Akey	WAC	119	57	75	83	77	28	13
13	Eastern Michigan	2008	Jeff Genyk	MAC	118	48	79	76	89	32	14
14	Rice	2007	David Bailiff	CUSA	119	50	89	107	92	36	16
15	Toledo	2007	Tom Amstutz	MAC	118	55	87	107	68	33	16

Yes, you are reading #1 and #2 correctly. The 2010 Eastern Michigan and the 2008 North Texas defenses were so atrocious, they broke my scale once I adjusted for strength of opponent. Thus, the -118 Defense+ rating for the former means they were 118% worse than the average 2010 FBS defense. Meanwhile, the -112 Defense+ rating means the latter was 112% worse than the average 2008 FBS defense.

So rejoice, Indiana fans. While you may think you've had it bad, at least you haven't experienced 2010 Eastern Michigan bad.