Auburn's Top-25 Defenses (1970-2015)

[StatTiger 1,230]

Here is the percentage of yardage Auburn's defense held their opponent to under their season average from 1970-2015. Not much of a surprise the 1988 defense was No. 1 on the list, holding their opponent to nearly 1/3 less than what they normally averaged.

The 2015 defense finished at No. 21 on the list and the highest over the past 7-years. Combine the 2015 Auburn defense and the 2014 Auburn offense and you likely have another SEC title and a finish in the Final-Four.

You cannot make a fair comparison of simply looking at the season averages, especially when you compare a defense from 2010 to 1988. This is why I like to compare the percentage of yards surrendered compared to what the opponent normally allows. There were fewer 400-yard offensive games during the 1980's compared to this current decade.

During the 1992 season, 18 teams had a defense that surrendered less than 300-yards per game. This season there were only five. On the offensive side of the football there were 29 teams at the FBS level that averaged over 400-yards per game. During this past season there were 64 teams.

In terms of improvement, during Auburn's first 6 games against FBS competition, the opponent gained 2.2% more yardage than they normally averaged. During the last 6 games of the season, Auburn held their opponent to -35.0% below their opponent's season average. Hopefully Kevin Steele's 2016 Auburn defense can pick up from where Muschamp's defense left off in 2015.

[cooltigger21 0]

Good stuff Stat. This confirms what most of us thought. The defense started out a little bit shaky but there was a culture change going on. It took time to solidify things. I think Steele can keep things going in the direction Muschamp started.

[SphyNxXx 17]

If we had this year's D with 2014 offense, the Alabama game (2014) would have been a bloodbath.

Edited January 26, 2016 by SphyNxXx