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Max Olson, ESPN Staff Writer
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College football defensive stop rate after Week 13
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NCAA Football, Northern Illinois Huskies, Bowling Green Falcons, Indiana Hoosiers, James Madison Dukes, Purdue Boilermakers, Kansas Jayhawks, Eastern Michigan Eagles, Colorado State Rams, South Florida Bulls, East Carolina Pirates, UConn Huskies, Texas Longhorns, Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns, Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors, LSU Tigers, Oregon State Beavers, TCU Horned Frogs, Florida International Panthers, Missouri State Bears, Marshall Thundering Herd, Nevada Wolf Pack, Kennesaw State Owls, UTSA Roadrunners, Wisconsin Badgers, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Mississippi State Bulldogs, Texas Tech Red Raiders, Fresno State Bulldogs, North Carolina Tar Heels, Navy Midshipmen, Baylor Bears, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Arkansas State Red Wolves, UCLA Bruins, Texas A&M Aggies, Georgia Bulldogs, Arizona Wildcats, Iowa Hawkeyes, Boston College Eagles, Syracuse Orange, Louisville Cardinals, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Memphis Tigers, Southern Miss Golden Eagles, Wyoming Cowboys, Troy Trojans, Minnesota Golden Gophers, Northwestern Wildcats, Sam Houston Bearkats, Illinois Fighting Illini, NC State Wolfpack, Tulsa Golden Hurricane, Missouri Tigers, Alabama Crimson Tide, Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, Stanford Cardinal, Virginia Tech Hokies, UTEP Miners, Central Michigan Chippewas, Auburn Tigers, Liberty Flames, West Virginia Mountaineers, Boise State Broncos, South Alabama Jaguars, USC Trojans, Kentucky Wildcats, Florida Atlantic Owls, Ball State Cardinals, Oregon Ducks, UL Monroe Warhawks, Utah Utes, Pittsburgh Panthers, Florida Gators, Rice Owls, UCF Knights, Old Dominion Monarchs, Toledo Rockets, Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, Akron Zips, Army Black Knights, Charlotte 49ers, Texas State Bobcats, San Diego State Aztecs, Duke Blue Devils, San José State Spartans, SMU Mustangs, BYU Cougars, New Mexico Lobos, Kent State Golden Flashes, Jacksonville State Gamecocks, North Texas Mean Green, Washington State Cougars, Georgia Southern Eagles, Virginia Cavaliers, Massachusetts Minutemen, Michigan State Spartans, Georgia State Panthers, Kansas State Wildcats, Miami (OH) RedHawks, Miami Hurricanes, Ohio State Buckeyes, Air Force Falcons, Arkansas Razorbacks, Tulane Green Wave, Tennessee Volunteers, Temple Owls, Clemson Tigers, App State Mountaineers, Houston Cougars, Iowa State Cyclones, Ole Miss Rebels, South Carolina Gamecocks, Maryland Terrapins, Washington Huskies, Arizona State Sun Devils, Cincinnati Bearcats, Western Michigan Broncos, Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, Colorado Buffaloes, Michigan Wolverines, Delaware Blue Hens, Oklahoma Sooners, California Golden Bears, Utah State Aggies, Buffalo Bulls, Ohio Bobcats, New Mexico State Aggies, Penn State Nittany Lions, Florida State Seminoles, UAB Blazers, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Wake Forest Demon Deacons, Vanderbilt Commodores
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It took Brent Venables four years to build Oklahoma's defense into something that lived up to his reputation as one of the top defensive minds in college football. In 2025, he has put it all together. The Sooners are one win away from locking up a College Football Playoff bid thanks to a fearsome defense that currently ranks No. 6 nationally in both scoring and stop rate. 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 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 14: As the defensive coordinator at Clemson, Venables' group finished No. 1 in this metric in 2014, 2017 and 2018. Oklahoma's defense has been on a steady rise up the stop rate standings during his tenure as Oklahoma's head coach, with a No. 64 finish during his debut season in 2022 before improving to No. 21 last season. Considering what he inherited, that's strong year-over-year growth. This season's unit has helped power five wins over ranked opponents. During Saturday's 17-6 victory over No. 22 Missouri, the defense had 11 stops, a second-half shutout and gave up only 57 yards on 17 carries to Tigers running back Ahmad Hardy, the nation's leading rusher entering the game. Just as they did at Clemson, Venables and his defensive staff have constructed an elite defensive line. Pass rusher Taylor Wein has earned SEC weekly honors in back-to-back games and has been a breakout star as a redshirt sophomore, but the real strength of this unit is in its depth with eight different D-linemen playing more than 250 snaps this season. The Sooners rank No. 1 nationally in sacks (41) and tackles for loss (110) and No. 2 in yards per rush (2.44). This defense is consistently lifting up an offense that is scoring just 21.8 points per game (100th in FBS) since quarterback John Mateer returned from thumb surgery. The Sooners are 4-2 since then against a brutally tough SEC schedule, and five of those six were one-score games entering the fourth quarter. A few more updates to note regarding this week's stop rate standings: Only one defense moved into the top 25 in the standings this week: Georgia. The Bulldogs rose to No. 20 thanks to their 35-3 rout of Charlotte on Saturday. East Carolina dropped from 21st to 36th following a 58-24 blowout loss on the road at UTSA. Texas has a stop rate of 45.2% over its past three games, which ranks 121st in FBS since the start of November. To be fair, the Longhorns pulled their starters during the third quarter against Arkansas on Saturday and were missing All-SEC linebacker Anthony Hill Jr., but the Razorbacks did score on 7 of 11 drives in a 52-37 loss. Maryland had a top-five stop rate through five games but is really struggling with stops on 41.5% of drives over its last four games. The Terrapins have lost seven in a row but have already announced coach Mike Locksley will return in 2026. Old Dominion currently has the best stop rate in the country in November at 92.1% over its past three games. The Monarchs have won four in a row and have an opportunity to achieve the program's first 10-win season since 2016 if they win out.
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.
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