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College Football Defense Rankings by Success Rate, 2026

College Football Charts
Data updatedOct 31, 2026

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Stingiest defenses: success rate allowed

Top 25 of 138 teams. 2026 season, games through Oct 24, 2026.

From the play-by-play. Hover or tap a bar for the details.

What this shows

Every team in the group, ranked by success rate allowed. The share of opponents' plays that are successful. A successful play gains 50% of the yards needed on 1st down, 70% on 2nd, and all of it on 3rd and 4th. Lower is better, so the lowest is No. 1.

No. 1: New Mexico at 30.8%, 0.1 points better No. 2, UCLA (30.9%).

The top 25 average 34.5%; the middle of all 138 in the group is 42.0%.

By conference: Big Ten 7, Big 12, SEC and ACC 3 each, Mountain West 2, out of the top 25.

Where the data comes from. Play-by-play from CollegeFootballData.com (the public cfbfastR files), games through Oct 24, 2026. Every stat here is computed from those plays.

Next up

  1. SMU 36.6%
  2. Baylor 36.6%
  3. Georgia 36.7%
  4. Texas Tech 36.7%
  5. Tennessee 36.9%
  6. Florida International 37.0%

Most in the top 25

  1. Big Ten 7 of 25
  2. Big 12 3 of 25
  3. SEC 3 of 25
  4. ACC 3 of 25
  5. Mountain West 2 of 25
  6. Conference USA 2 of 25

About the stats on this chart

What is success rate allowed?

The share of opponents' plays that are successful. A successful play gains 50% of the yards needed on 1st down, 70% on 2nd, and all of it on 3rd and 4th.

Why does success rate allowed matter?

A defense that keeps opponents off schedule forces 3rd-and-long, and 3rd-and-long is where drives go to die.

Where does the success rate allowed data come from?

From play-by-play from CollegeFootballData.com (the public cfbfastR files), games through Oct 24, 2026.