Max OlsonOct 7, 2025, 07:00 AM ET
Close
- Covers the Big 12
- Joined ESPN in 2012
- Graduate of the University of Nebraska
Follow on X

This offseason, Texas Tech set out to assemble one of the best defenses in college football. Five games in, the Red Raiders have moved into the No. 1 spot in our updated stop rate standings.

What is stop rate? It's a basic measurement of success: the percentage of a defense's drives that end in punts, turnovers 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 does not include games against FCS foes. It 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's the current leaderboard entering Week 7:

Stop rate standings

Coming out of Week 6, Max Olson's defensive metric on how good a team is at stopping an opponent from scoring on each drive.

Team	Games	Stop Rate	Pts/Drive
1. Texas Tech	4	85.5%	0.89
2. Oklahoma	4	85.1%	0.70
3. Ohio State	4	84.2%	0.66
4. Texas	5	83.1%	0.98
5. Maryland	4	82%	1.00
6. Oregon	4	81.4%	1.12
7. Toledo	4	79.2%	1.29
8. LSU	4	79.1%	1.19
9. Old Dominion	4	78.7%	1.28
10. Indiana	4	78.3%	1.00
11. Memphis	5	77.6%	1.34
12. East Carolina	4	76.7%	1.33
13. Alabama	5	75.6%	1.62
13. San Diego State	4	75.6%	1.36
15. Louisiana Tech	4	75.5%	1.28
16. Louisville	4	74.5%	1.43
17. James Madison	4	74.4%	1.33
18. Miami	4	73.9%	1.41
19. BYU	4	73.8%	1.45
19. Missouri	4	73.8%	1.43
21. Arizona	4	73.5%	1.39
22. Michigan	5	73.2%	1.45
23. Texas A&M	5	72.6%	1.58
24. Utah	4	72.5%	1.60
25. Nebraska	4	71.7%	1.61
26. Pittsburgh	4	70%	1.78
27. Ole Miss	5	69.6%	1.68
28. Iowa	4	69%	1.69
28. Wyoming	4	69%	1.98
30. Georgia	4	68.9%	1.91
31. Auburn	5	68.5%	1.48
31. Wisconsin	5	68.5%	1.83
33. TCU	4	68.2%	1.95
33. Penn State	4	68.2%	1.89
35. Florida	4	67.4%	1.65
36. South Florida	4	67.3%	2.00
37. Houston	4	67.3%	1.69
38. Fresno State	5	67.3%	1.84
39. Western Michigan	5	66.7%	1.89
39. Clemson	5	66.7%	1.76
41. Southern Miss	4	66%	2.10
42. Troy	4	66%	2.04
43. UConn	5	65.6%	2.02
44. Virginia	5	65.5%	2.19
45. Mississippi State	5	65.5%	1.91
46. Iowa State	5	65.4%	1.96
47. Kennesaw State	4	65.2%	2.24
48. Arizona State	4	65.1%	2.02
49. UTEP	4	64.7%	2.02
50. Buffalo	5	64.4%	2.07
51. UNLV	4	64.3%	2.02
52. Rice	5	64.2%	1.98
53. SMU	4	64%	2.18
54. App State	4	63.6%	2.18
54. Florida State	4	63.6%	2.30
56. UCF	4	63.4%	1.95
57. Western Kentucky	5	63.3%	1.95
58. Tulane	5	63.2%	2.11
59. New Mexico State	4	63%	2.26
60. California	5	63%	2.19
61. New Mexico	4	62.8%	2.14
62. Kansas	5	62.5%	2.04
63. Vanderbilt	5	62.3%	2.13
63. USC	5	62.3%	2.17
65. Georgia Tech	4	62.2%	2.09
66. Kentucky	5	61.8%	2.24
67. North Texas	4	61.4%	2.27
68. Ohio	5	61.1%	2.07
69. Wake Forest	4	60.9%	1.93
70. Notre Dame	5	60.7%	2.11
71. Syracuse	5	60.7%	2.43
72. Northwestern	4	60.5%	2.05
73. Northern Illinois	4	60.5%	2.02
74. Temple	4	60.4%	2.46
75. Illinois	5	60.4%	2.53
76. Michigan State	4	59.6%	2.47
77. Kansas State	5	59.3%	2.20
77. Duke	5	59.3%	2.52
79. UTSA	4	59.2%	2.43
80. Jacksonville State	4	59.1%	2.66
81. Navy	4	59%	2.33
82. Hawaii	5	58.8%	2.29
83. Middle Tennessee	4	58.7%	2.63
84. Minnesota	4	58.5%	2.61
84. South Carolina	4	58.5%	2.00
86. Tennessee	4	58.5%	2.42
87. Washington	4	58.3%	2.47
88. NC State	5	58.2%	2.42
89. Boise State	4	58.1%	2.63
90. Bowling Green	4	57.8%	2.40
90. Nevada	4	57.8%	2.31
92. Tulsa	5	57.6%	2.56
93. Liberty	4	56.8%	2.48
94. San Jose State	4	56.5%	2.43
95. Arkansas State	5	56.1%	2.91
96. Ball State	4	56.1%	2.88
96. Miami (OH)	4	56.1%	2.68
98. Colorado	6	55.7%	2.44
99. Army	4	55.6%	2.75
100. Charlotte	4	55.1%	2.73
101. Cincinnati	4	55%	2.60
102. West Virginia	5	54.1%	2.75
103. Texas State	4	53.3%	2.84
104. Florida Atlantic	4	52.9%	2.82
104. Marshall	4	52.9%	2.90
106. Rutgers	4	52.6%	2.89
107. North Carolina	4	52.5%	2.73
107. Delaware	4	52.5%	2.70
109. Utah State	4	52%	2.90
110. Akron	5	51.7%	2.88
111. Washington State	4	51.2%	3.10
112. Florida International	4	51.1%	2.91
112. Missouri State	4	51.1%	3.00
114. Central Michigan	5	51%	3.20
115. South Alabama	5	50.9%	3.06
116. Baylor	5	50%	2.83
116. Virginia Tech	5	50%	3.02
116. Coastal Carolina	4	50%	2.81
116. Colorado State	4	50%	3.00
120. Stanford	5	49.1%	2.54
121. Arkansas	4	48.8%	3.16
122. Oregon State	6	48.5%	2.90
123. Oklahoma State	4	48.1%	3.08
124. Louisiana	4	47.8%	3.13
125. UMass	4	47.6%	3.45
126. UAB	4	46.5%	3.40
127. Purdue	4	46.3%	3.05
128. Eastern Michigan	5	46.3%	3.31
129. Georgia Southern	4	44.7%	3.62
130. Boston College	4	44.2%	3.28
131. Georgia State	4	43.5%	3.72
132. UL Monroe	4	43.2%	3.39
133. UCLA	5	41.5%	3.73
134. Sam Houston	5	38.9%	3.46
135. Kent State	4	36.7%	3.86
136. Air Force	4	31.7%	4.29

The Red Raiders moved up to No. 1 with a stop rate of 85.5% after another dominant effort and a second-half shutout in a 35-11 win at Houston. They finished with three three-and-outs, three takeaways and three fourth-down stops, with the lone touchdown coming on a 64-yard catch and run off a missed tackle.

Under new defensive coordinator Shiel Wood, Texas Tech's defense has been elite at all three levels. The defensive line was unblockable against the Cougars and is powering the No. 2 rush defense in FBS in yards per carry (2.29). The leader of this defense, linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, continues to perform at an All-America level. They're generating pressure on 51% of pass rushes, and it's no surprise that leads to takeaways. Tech has 12 through five games, tied for most among the Power 4.

If you have followed Texas Tech football over the past, well, 15 years, you appreciate how impossible this turnaround seemed. The Red Raiders did put together a few really good defenses during the Mike Leach era, but the decade after his departure was brutal. Over that 10-year stretch from 2010-19, Texas Tech gave up the second-most points per game (35.4) among all Power 5 programs.

In 2016, Texas Tech paired a future Hall of Fame quarterback in Patrick Mahomes with the worst defense in the country. Tech gave up 43.5 points per game and 554.3 yards per game and also ranked dead last in stop rate at 46.5%.

Back then, you couldn't magically fix it with transfers. But coach Joey McGuire's Red Raiders are thriving in this new era and spending whatever it takes to start competing at the highest level. Now that they're here, they're going to keep investing in defense. Texas Tech picked up a commitment on Saturday from Jalen Brewster, the No. 1 defensive tackle in the ESPN Junior 300, after already landing the No. 1 outside linebacker for 2027 in LaDamion Guyton.

High-scoring offenses may still be a big piece of the program identity going forward, but it's clear they're done messing around on defense.

A few more updates to note regarding this week's stop rate standings:

Ohio State has given up just 25 points through five games and would rank No. 1 in stop rate at 87.8% if we included games against FCS opponents. The Buckeyes' defense has been pushed into the red zone eight times and still hasn't surrendered a touchdown. That's an incredible achievement considering they have had to defend 18 plays inside their own 10-yard line.
Last week's top two stop rate defenses, Texas and Maryland, dropped to No. 4 and No. 5, respectively, after losing on Saturday. Oklahoma jumped up to No. 2 after a 44-0 shutout win over Kent State.
Penn State's stop rate has plummeted from 90.9% to 68.2% over the past two weeks. The Nittany Lions' defense got zero stops in the first half of their stunning 42-37 loss at UCLA and ranks No. 33 in stop rate this week.
Memphis climbed from 20th to 11th this week following a 45-7 win over Tulsa and continues to look like a viable College Football Playoff threat. Toledo, Old Dominion, East Carolina, San Diego State and Louisiana Tech all rank inside the top 15 in stop rate as well this week.
Baylor has a stop rate of 50%, which puts the Bears all the way down at No. 116 in the FBS standings this week, yet improved to 4-2 on the year with a 35-34 win over Kansas State.
UCLA's stop rate improved from 39.4% to 41.5% after getting four stops against Penn State's offense. The Bruins are still last among Power 4 defenses in stop rate, although Boston College is down to No. 130 after Pitt true freshman QB Mason Heintschel lit them up in a 48-7 rout on Saturday.

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.