Today’s blog will complete my series of analyzing the most/least improved units over the last 20 years. Each day for the past week I have had a new offensive or defensive statistical category to examine and today I will breakdown defensive ppg.

There are many factors that contribute to a significant change in defensive ppg. First, a team may see a significant improvement if they return a bunch of experienced starters from a team that was relatively inexperienced the year before. Naturally a team that loses a bunch of starters from an experienced team will usually see a drop off in defensive ppg.

Another factor may be a coaching change. Usually a coach is more experienced at one side of the ball than the other (especially if they were just a coordinator in their previous job) and this could lead to a change in total defense. A “defensive” minded coach could come in and improve the defense as a whole by possibly instituting a more physical and attacking defense while a “offensive” minded coach may be more conservative on the defensive side of the ball and the defensive ppg could suffer.

Whatever the case may be here are all the teams that allowed at least 14 ppg less on defense compared to the prior season. Quick note for many of the smaller schools in the WAC, MAC and Sun Belt: my data only goes back to 1995 for those teams so it would include the last 15 years instead of the last 20.

Most Improved Defensive PPG L/20 years

The 1992 Arizona Wildcat defense was one of the most improved defenses of all-time and this is not the first time they have appeared in the most improved defensive statistical categories. The Wildcats new “Desert Swarm” defense gave up just 9.8 ppg in ’92 a remarkable improvement from the ’91 season where they gave up 32.8 ppg.

The #2 most improved defensive ppg performance came from a 1998 Central Michigan team that returned 10 starters from a team that gave up 43.5 ppg in ’97. The experienced group in ’98 was much improved and gave up just 23.0 ppg, a 20.5 ppg improvement.

The #3 most improved team was the 2002 Tulane Green Wave who returned 9 starters from a defense that gave up 41.3 ppg the prior year. With an such an experienced unit, the Green Wave gave up just 21.7 ppg and were one of the key components of a major turnaround as they went 8-5 and won the Hawaii Bowl (just 3-9 the year before).

Now here is a look at all of the teams who gave up at least 14 defensive ppg more than the prior year. Keep in mind again that my data only goes back to 1995 for some of the smaller schools.

Least Improved Defensive PPG L/20 Years

The least improved defensive ppg performance came from the 1998 Cincinnati Bearcats who shockingly gave up 41.5 ppg in ’98. I use the word “shocking” because then HC Rick Minter was known as a defensive guru at Ball St and Notre Dame and the Bearcats returned the same number of starters (6) as they did the year before. Also the 41.5 ppg was two TD’s more than any season avg in Minter’s entire 10-year tenure at Cincinnati.

The #2 least improved team was the 1993 Stanford Cardinal who returned just 4 starters from an experienced defense in ’92 that gave up just 15.1 ppg. With so much inexperience and the fact that Walsh was known as an “offensive” guru, the Cardinal slipped to allow 35.4 ppg in ’93 as they went just 4-7 (10-3 in ’92).

Make sure you visit the PhilSteele.com homepage and check out several of the new features added in the past week including Phil Steele Videos, Players Lost for the Season, Facebook Forecasts and a Week-by-Week Schedule complete with up-to-date TV times.

I will be back tomorrow with a look at the past NFL Division Champs and what that means for this upcoming season.

Only 35 Days Until the First College Football Game!!