College Football 2009: The Year of Defense

We all know the cliché that "Defense wins championships."  For the most part, we all shake our heads in agreement, but with somewhat of a "yea, but..." kind of attitude.

In 2009, however, this extremely over-used term seemed to be no more relevant than what we all saw unfold during this past year's college football season.

Let's take a look at the statistics that back this premise.

First and foremost, I'll take a peek at the conference champions of the "meaningful" FBS conferences and their respective total defensive rank within their conference.

SEC: Alabama

No. 1 in the SEC, and No. 2 overall defense in the entire country, including the BCS National Title.

Big 12: Texas

No. 1 in the Big 12, and No. 3 overall defense in the entire country, including a berth in the BCS National Title game.

Big 10: Ohio State

No. 1 in the Big 10, and No. 5 overal defense in the country, and Rose Bowl Champions.

Big East: Cincinnati

No. 8 and dead last in the Big East.  The biggest statistical anomaly of any team in the FBS last year regarding defense for a conference champion.

ACC: Georgia Tech

No. 5 in the ACC.  Another anomaly, but we also have to acknowledge that both Cincinnati and Georgia Tech were manhandled in their bowl games as well.

Pac-10: Oregon

No. 4 in the Pac 10, and yet again a team that lost their bowl game largely due to a subpar defense.

MWC: TCU

No. 1 in MWC, and No. 1 overall defense in the entire country.

WAC: Boise State

No. 1 in the WAC, and what may surprise some people as the 14th ranked defense in the entire country.

Some pretty telling statistics in these numbers, and we can already see my next premise of how important defense is when it comes to big games, and more importantly, bowl games.

Thus leading me into my next premise.  How did the better statistically ranked defense fair in bowl games in matchups in important bowl games?

Las Vegas Bowl

BYU (No. 28 ranked defense) vs. Oregon State (No. 46 ranked defense).

BYU 44 Oregon State 20.

Poinsettia Bowl

Utah (No. 19 ranked defense) vs. California (No. 72 ranked defense).

Utah 37 California 27.

Meineke Car Care

Pittsburgh (No. 23 ranked defense) vs. North Carolina (No. 6 ranked defense).

Pittsburgh 19 North Carolina 17.

While Pittsburgh won this contest with the "inferior" defense, one also has to acknowledge that North Carolina also sported the No. 108 offense in the country compared to Pitt's No. 52 ranked offense.

While the "lesser" defense won this contest, we also have to recognize that North Carolina also had the No. 108 ranked offense in the entire country as well, and due to their anemic offense, they were unable to turn a final minute drive into a reasonable field goal attempt to win the game in the waning seconds against a formidable Pitt defensive unit.

Sometimes even the stingiest of defenses can't overcome a completely inept offense.

Emerald Bowl

USC (No. 40 ranked defense) vs. Boston College (No. 26 ranked defense).

USC 24 Boston College 13.

No excuses here, even though USC was a heavy favorite in the contest.

Music City Bowl

Clemson (No. 20 ranked defense) vs. Kentucky (No. 43 ranked defense).

Even though the contest was held in SEC land, the better defense from Clemson prevailed, 21-13.

Independence Bowl

Georgia (No. 39 ranked defense) vs. Texas A&M (No. 105 ranked defense).

May not be a better example of even good defense trumping a great offense.  While Texas A&M brought in the nation's No. 5 ranked total offense, it still wasn't good enough to overcome their completely awful defense against a Georgia team that ranked No. 75 in total offense in the entire country.

They got their head handed to them by the final score of 44-20.

Champs Sports Bowl

Wisconsin (No. 30 ranked total defense) vs. Miami (No. 45 ranked total defense).

Wisconsin 20 Miami 14.

A slight upset in this one, as the better Wisconsin defense was able to hold the 'Canes "better athletes" in check for the better part of the entire contest.

Holiday Bowl

Nebraska (No. 7 ranked total defense) vs. Arizona (No. 25 ranked defense).

The Huskers were a solid underdog in this one, but they rode their dominant defense to the win in this contest, holding the much more powerful Wildcat offense in check for a total yardage amount of 109 yards, including over 60 yards in their final drive that amounted in zero points.

Nebraska 33 Arizona 0.

Armed Forces Bowl

Air Force (No. 11 ranked total defense) vs. Houston (No. 111 ranked total defense).

The heavily favored Cougars were held in check for one of the few times all season as the Falcons were able to grind out their triple option attack for a convincing 47-20 victory over the heavily favored Houston team.

The No. 1 ranked offense in the entire country simply could not overcome an inept defense that could not handle the rushing attack and time of possession grinding offense from Air Force in what was a rather easy and surprising upset to many.

Sun Bowl

Oklahoma (No. 8 ranked total defense) vs. Stanford (No. 90 ranked total defense).

One of the better bowl games from the 2009 season featured the hard charging running attack of Toby Gerhart vs. the stingy Oklahoma defense.

While the Cardinal put up a valiant effort against the Sooners, it was Oklahoma's ability to make enough plays on offense against a rather tame Cardinal defense that proved to be the difference in OU's 31-27 victory.

Texas Bowl

Navy (No. 34 ranked total defense) vs. Missouri (No. 64 ranked total defense).

In one of the bigger upsets of the bowl season, the triple option attack struck again as the Midshipmen were able to grind it out against a rather paper-tigerish defense from Missouri in rather easy fashion 35-13.

Chick-Fil-A Bowl

Virginia Tech (No. 12 ranked total defense) vs. Tennessee (No. 22 ranked total defense). 

Virginia Tech 37 Tennessee 14. 

Tech had the better offense and defense in this matchup.  Throw in the crafty special teams play and heady coaching, and this game wasn't much of a contest when all was said and done.

Capital One Bowl

Penn State (No. 9 ranked total defense) vs. LSU (No. 26 ranked total defense).

In a game marred by one of the more incredibly awful fields you will ever see a major college football game played upon, it was the stingier defense from Penn State that ended up ruling the day.

Penn State 19 LSU 17.

Gator Bowl

Florida State (No. 108 ranked total defense) vs. West Virginia (No. 36 total defense).

In what looks to be a bit of a head scratcher and anomaly in the bowl season matchups, one can't dismiss the fact that the Seminoles rode the wave of Bobby Bowden's final game coaching to an inspiring 33-21 romp over the Mountaineers. 

Rose Bowl

Ohio State (No. 5 ranked total defense) vs. Oregon (No. 35 ranked total defense).

In a true statement game of defense vs. offense, it was the steady Buckeye defense that held the high-octane Duck offense in check for a good portion of this contest.

In the end, the Buckeyes came away with a 26-17 upset victory over the solidly favored Ducks in this one. 

Cotton Bowl

Ole Miss (No. 21 ranked total defense) vs. Oklahoma State (No.31 ranked total defense).

In one of the uglier bowl game of the 2009 season, the Rebels rode on the coattails of their all-everything superstar Dexter McCluster and tougher defense to put away the Cowpokes 21-7.

Alamo Bowl

Texas Tech (No. 49 ranked total defense) vs. Michigan State (No. 77 ranked total defense).

In an expected shootout, the higher powered Tech offense proved to be too much for the much-maligned Spartan stop unit 41-31.

Fiesta Bowl

TCU (No. 1 ranked total defense) vs. Boise State (No. 14 ranked total defense).

In a bit of an ugly matchup, the Boise State defense proved to be up to the task in shutting down the higher ranked TCU offense and defense in an upset-minded 17-10 contest.

While this shows a chink in the "defense wins championships" mantra, we all have to recognize that Boise State has learned to play some pretty good defense in their own right.

Orange Bowl

Iowa (No. 10 ranked total defense) vs. Georgia Tech (No. 54 ranked total defense). 

While Georgia Tech is everybody's newfound favorite team, it was Iowa's suffocating front four that held the vaunted triple option attack from Georgia Tech in check all night in their dominating 24-14 victory.

Sugar Bowl

Florida (No. 4 ranked total defense) vs. Cincinnati (No. 67 ranked total defense).

In what was probably the biggest mismatch in the entire bowl season, the speedier and stronger Florida defense simply manhandled the outmanned the Bearcats in dominating fashion from kickoff to the final whistle, 51-24.

BCS Championship

Alabama (No. 2 ranked total defense) vs. Texas (No. 3 ranked total defense).

In a matchup of college football giants for all the marbles, one cannot dismiss the loss of Colt McCoy early in this contest as being an important factor in the eventual victor.

While RS freshman Gilbert was able to create a stir in the second half against the favored Tide, it was the slightly stronger defense from Alabama that did put McCoy on the sideline in the first place in their championship victory over the Longhorns by the final score of 37-21.

While there are some chinks in the proverbial armour that "defense wins championships", it is readily apparent throughout this past year's college football season that great defense is truly the foundation of championship football.

No more was it readily apparent than during this past season's bowl games and conference champions.  While there were some conference champions from respected conferences that didn't have "elite" defenses, they were eventually exposed in their bowl games as simply not having enough when the all the chips were on the table.

While the 2008 season was the year of offense, there is absolutely no doubt that 2009 was the year in defense.

Will this trend continue in 2010?  Hard to say. 

But as clichés go, I'll take a great defense over a great offense nearly every day of the week, and twice during bowl season.

NOTE:  All statistics courtesy of http://web1.ncaa.org.  I apoligize for any inconsistencies in these numbers, and I'm sure I missed on some.