Indiana is the undefeated and undisputed College Football Playoff national champion. But the Hoosiers came up just short in their bid to finish No. 1 in stop rate.
Your stop rate champs for 2025: the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
What is stop rate? It’s a basic measurement of success: the percentage of a defense’s drives that end in a punt, turnover or a turnover on downs. Defensive coordinators have the same goal regardless of their scheme, opponent or conference: prevent points and get off the field. Stop rate is a simple metric but can offer a good reflection of a defense’s effectiveness on a per-drive basis in today’s faster-tempo game.
Stop rate is not an advanced stat and is no substitute for Bill Connelly’s SP+, FPI or other more comprehensive metrics. It’s merely a different method for evaluating success on defense against FBS opponents. Here are the final stop rate standings for the 2025 season.
TeamGamesStop RatePts/Drive1. Texas Tech1383.5%0.922. Toledo1279.6%1.223. Indiana1578.3%1.114. San Diego State1278.2%1.305. Ohio State1378%1.046. Old Dominion1275.8%1.487. Fresno State1274.5%1.478. Oklahoma1273.9%1.289. Miami1573.9%1.4110. James Madison1373%1.4911. Oregon1472.4%1.6312. Western Michigan1372.2%1.5813. Virginia1371.6%1.6514. Utah1271.3%1.7415. LSU1271.2%1.7216. Notre Dame1270.9%1.5317. Louisville1270.4%1.6418. Texas1370.3%1.6919. Iowa1270.3%1.5120. Washington State1270.2%1.8121. East Carolina1269.7%1.6722. SMU1269.4%1.7123. Wyoming1169.4%1.8024. Arizona1269.1%1.7325. Georgia1368.9%1.7626. Texas A&M1268.3%1.7727. Buffalo1168.1%1.8628. Louisiana Tech1268%1.8429. Missouri1268%1.7730. Alabama1466.7%1.9030. Ohio1266.7%1.9132. Pittsburgh1266.4%2.0532. South Florida1266.4%1.9534. Memphis1266.4%2.1035. Iowa State1166.1%1.9336. Kennesaw State1366%2.1237. Clemson1265.9%1.8138. New Mexico1265.6%1.9839. Boise State1365.6%2.0940. Northwestern1265.5%2.1141. Southern Miss1265.1%2.2142. South Carolina1165%1.8643. Arizona State1265%2.0944. Washington1265%1.9445. Michigan1365%1.9346. Wake Forest1264.8%1.8547. BYU1364.7%1.9347. Houston1264.7%1.9949. Troy1364.7%1.9750. Auburn1164.7%1.8751. Miami (Ohio)1364.3%2.0352. Ole Miss1464.3%2.0153. Wisconsin1264%2.0754. Jacksonville State1363.8%2.1955. Central Michigan1263.6%2.2055. USC1363.6%2.2257. Bowling Green1163.5%2.0758. TCU1263.4%2.0759. Western Kentucky1263.3%1.7960. Hawaii1263.1%2.1261. New Mexico State1163%2.2762. Tulane1462.7%2.1963. UTSA1262.7%2.1964. Penn State1262.6%2.1265. Maryland1162.5%2.2466. Kansas State1162.4%2.1567. Florida State1162.1%2.2568. Arkansas State1261.8%2.3169. Akron1160.9%2.2970. North Texas1360.8%2.3671. Northern Illinois1160.5%2.2772. Florida1160.3%2.3172. Kentucky1160.3%2.3572. UCF1160.3%2.1775. North Carolina1160%2.4376. Florida International1259.9%2.4077. UNLV1359.9%2.3978. Minnesota1259.8%2.2679. Missouri State1259.4%2.4980. California1259.4%2.3781. Army1259.2%2.3682. Ball State1159.2%2.5883. Michigan State1158.9%2.5484. UConn1258.5%2.5084. UTEP1158.5%2.2686. Mississippi State1258.5%2.4687. Illinois1258.1%2.4888. Middle Tennessee1158%2.5789. Utah State1258%2.3890. Nevada1158%2.3991. Nebraska1257.9%2.5392. Georgia Tech1257.7%2.4993. Oregon State1157.5%2.4694. Liberty1157.4%2.5595. Vanderbilt1257.3%2.3796. Marshall1157.1%2.5497. Tennessee1257%2.4898. Tulsa1157%2.6099. Texas State1256.7%2.65100. Louisiana1256.7%2.54101. Kansas1156.5%2.59102. Eastern Michigan1155.9%2.71103. Coastal Carolina1255.7%2.54104. Stanford1255.6%2.47104. West Virginia1155.6%2.67106. App State1255.5%2.56107. Colorado1255.3%2.57108. Cincinnati1255%2.66109. South Alabama1154.7%2.76110. Navy1254.6%2.67111. NC State1254.6%2.52112. Delaware1254%2.66113. San Jose State1154%2.63114. Kent State1153.8%2.81115. Duke1353.6%2.77116. Charlotte1153.4%2.89117. Rice1252.9%2.85117. Colorado State1152.9%2.97119. Temple1152.9%2.88120. Syracuse1152.4%2.85121. Baylor1151.6%2.94122. Oklahoma State1151.2%2.91123. Georgia Southern1251.1%2.98124. UL Monroe1150.8%2.87125. Sam Houston1249.3%3.00126. Virginia Tech1148.7%3.03127. Purdue1148.2%3.08128. Florida Atlantic1148.1%3.20129. Boston College1148%3.06130. UCLA1247.7%3.34131. Rutgers1146.7%3.35132. UMass1146.7%3.46133. Arkansas1144.8%3.18134. Georgia State1144.8%3.35135. UAB1142.3%3.63136. Air Force1142.3%3.38
Texas Tech finished with a stop rate of 83.5% over its 13 games against FBS opponents this season. That’s the highest stop rate percentage by any FBS defense over the past decade and the best since 2012 Alabama achieved a stop rate of 84.2%.
The Red Raiders got stops on 142 drives this season, by far the most in FBS, and still had the second-best scoring margin in the sport (plus-327 points) despite a 23-0 shutout loss to Oregon in the CFP quarterfinals at the Orange Bowl. They led the country in yards per play allowed (3.94), takeaways (32), pressures (16.6 per game) and run defense (68.1 yards per game).
All of this sounded practically impossible a decade ago, back when the Red Raiders paired Patrick Mahomes and the No. 1 passing offense in the sport in 2016 with a defense that gave up 43.5 points per game with a 46.5% stop rate.
Editor’s Picks
1 Related
But coach Joey McGuire found the right man for the job in hiring Shiel Wood away from Houston to be his defensive coordinator. They teamed up with general manager James Blanchard to assemble an incredible class of players from the transfer portal with nine newcomers who started six or more games, powered by a more than $7 million defensive line.
Texas Tech had the most improved stop rate in FBS under Wood’s leadership after finishing No. 94 in last year’s standings. Tech produced two consensus All-Americans in linebacker Jacob Rodriguez and pass rusher David Bailey and, thanks in large part to the defense, won the school’s first Big 12 championship.
Now the Red Raiders are looking to run it back with All-Big 12 performers Ben Roberts and Brice Pollock returning and three of the top defensive linemen in the portal on the way — Mateen Ibirogba of Wake Forest, Trey White of San Diego State and Adam Trick of Miami (Ohio).
A few more takeaways about these end-of-season stop rate standings:
The top 25 defenses in stop rate went a combined 251-86 (.745) this season with four winning conference championships. Seven of the top 12 teams in the final stop rate standings earned College Football Playoff bids.
National champion Indiana ranked No. 3 in this year’s standings with a stop rate of 78.3% over its 15 games against FBS opponents. The Hoosiers maintained that elite performance against its toughest competition with stops on 31 of 40 drives in the postseason.
Toledo finished in the No. 2 spot in these standings with a stop rate of 79.6%, the best percentage by any Group of 5 defense over the past decade.
Miami achieved a No. 9 finish in the stop rate standings at 73.9% after getting six stops in the national title game. Defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman did an impressive job with this group in his first year in the program, bringing the best out of a unit that ranked No. 62 in stop rate a year ago.
Two defensive coordinators who achieved top-five stop rates this season made moves this offseason. Toledo’s Vince Kehres is the new defensive coordinator at Syracuse, and Nebraska hired San Diego State’s Rob Aurich after the Aztecs impressed this season with the No. 4 stop rate in FBS at 78.2% on their run to the Mountain West title game.
Along with Texas Tech, the most improved defenses in stop rate this season were San Diego State (No. 99 to No. 4), New Mexico (No. 128 to No. 38), Southern Miss (No. 129 to No. 41), Western Michigan (No. 109 to No. 12) and Virginia (No. 101 to No. 13).
Which defenses experienced the biggest declines in stop rate? Sam Houston (No. 8 to No. 125), Virginia Tech (No. 22 to No. 126), Tennessee (No. 3 to No. 97), Arkansas (No. 61 to No. 133) and Air Force (No. 87 to No. 136). The Vols have already addressed their slide by bringing in defensive coordinator Jim Knowles from Penn State, and Virginia Tech is bringing back fired head coach Brent Pry as the DC under James Franklin.
Texas moved on from defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski after a No. 18 finish in this year’s stop rate standings. The Longhorns brought in Will Muschamp in their efforts to get things fixed and compete for a national championship in 2026. They finished No. 2 in stop rate under Kwiatkowski in 2024.
Here’s an outlier you don’t see too often: Duke won the ACC title despite finishing with the No. 115 stop rate defense at 53.6%. Vanderbilt was another program that won big despite a rough year in this metric, achieving a No. 15 finish in the AP poll despite a No. 95 ranked stop rate defense.
The No. 1 conference in terms of average stop rate was the SEC at 64%, finishing ahead of the Big Ten (63.1%), MAC (63.1%), Big 12 (62.8%), Mountain West (62.4%), ACC (61.4%), Conference USA (60.2%), Sun Belt (59.3%) and American Conference (58.3%). Oklahoma led the way for the SEC at No. 8 nationally with six more SEC defenses finishing among the top 30 in the final standings.
Note: All data is courtesy of ESPN Research. Games against FCS opponents and end-of-half drives in which the opponent took a knee or ran out the clock were filtered out.
