SEC Football: Top-10 Defenses (1992-2007)

As part of our look back to the 10th Anniversary of the ’98 Vols and their National Championship—a team that featured excellence in the backfield and on defense—earlier we ranked the Top-10 Rushing Offenses in the SEC’s modern era, since expansion in 1992.

Today we turn our attention to the defensive side of the football, and look at the best defensive units here in the same era.

A couple of ground rules: no consecutive seasons were included because often the personnel is virtually the same. So you won’t see ’93 Alabama or ’07 LSU, for example, because we went with one of the adjacent years.

Unlike the rushing-offenses piece, where we used NFL success to help rank the tandems, with defenses, you’re talking about eleven guys instead of just two or three, and their ability to work as a unit is what makes the defense great, so we placed almost no emphasis on the NFL or name value.

However, like the previous piece, a team’s on-field success is factored into the rankings. And obviously, the numbers were crunched, especially scoring defense and total yardage.

And so away we go.

Top 10 SEC Defenses: 1992-2007

10. 2002 Georgia (15.4 PPG allowed, 13-1, SEC Champions)

Key Players: DE David Pollack, DT Jonathan Sullivan, LB Boss Bailey, LB Tony Gilbert, FS Kentrell Curry

In Mark Richt’s second season, the Dawgs took lofty preseason expectations and made the most of them, running the table outside of their usual struggles with Florida. It was Georgia’s first SEC Championship in 20 years and their first ever East Division title.

This was a team that improved over the season—their worst defensive performance was in the opener against Clemson, which would be the first and last time they’d surrender four touchdowns in one game all year.

Along the way, the defense carried them to a 13-7 win over South Carolina and an 18-13 win over Tennessee. Then they dominated late, providing the most lopsided win in program history against Georgia Tech 51-7, completely putting the brakes on Arkansas in the SEC Championship 30-3, and then using an interception return for a TD to key a 26-13 win over Florida State in the Sugar Bowl.

David Pollack was the 2002 SEC Defensive Player of the Year.

9. 1998 Florida

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