The Pac-12 has never been known for its defensive prowess. Instead, the hallmark of the Pac-12 has always been a high-octane passing offense, but that doesn’t mean defense is any less important. Yesterday, I ranked all of the offenses in the Pac-12, which you should check out if you haven’t already. Today, I’m ranking each defense in the Pac-12 as we look forward to the second half of the season.
One of the metrics I use throughout this article is “stop rate,” a stat championed by the Athletic (subscription required). Simply, stop rate is the rate at which defenses force a turnover, a turnover on downs, or a punt. For reference, Michigan leads the league in stop rate at 87.5 percent, which means they force a stop 87.5 percent of the time. Bringing up the rear is New Mexico, with a stop rate of 33.3 percent meaning they allow a score of 66.67 percent of the time.
Below are each of the Pac-12 defenses ranked: