College Football Rankings: 3 Defenses Destined to Disappoint

Being a great football team is about taking care of business on both sides of the ball.

As many points as Auburn and Oregon racked up last season on their way to the national championship game, their defenses were also among the top in football, led by players such as Nick Fairley, Clay Matthews and Cliff Harris.

This college football season, there are three teams in particular who have the offense capable of being big-time teams, but don’t have the defense to go along with it.

Here are three ranked teams whose defense will let them down in the long run.

3. Mississippi State

So far, what was on paper has not translated to the field for the Mississippi State Bulldogs, a team ranked No. 20 in the nation before the season that just gave up 41 points to then-unranked Auburn.

The Bulldogs not only let Cam Newton’s successor, Barrett Trotter, complete passes at a high rate, but they gave up a huge day to Auburn running back Michael Dyer.

The Bulldogs somehow lost in Week 2, after scoring 34 points behind a very good running game.

By the way, speaking of Auburn...

2. Auburn

You could conceivably say the Auburn Tigers are missing defensive tackle Nick Fairley more than Cam Newton at this point.

Through two games, the Tigers have allowed 489.5 yards per game and 280 rushing yards per game. Last season, through two games, they had allowed 306 yards per game and 80 rushing yards per game.

Auburn may have a capable successor to Cam Newton in Barrett Trotter, but the defense has been dreadful and the Tigers are lucky the offense has exploded out of the gate.

They could easily be 0-2 after squeaking past Utah State, 42-38, in the season opener.

1. South Carolina

How the Gamecocks are No. 10 in the latest AP poll is beyond me. Sure, they beat Georgia, but Georgia had already lost at that point and the Gamecocks had to score 45 points to come away with the victory.

South Carolina’s offense is exciting behind sophomore running back Marcus Lattimore, but the team won’t stay in the top 10 for long if the defense can’t step up its game.

Right now, there’s nothing to suggest the defense can do that.

If you want to see a shootout, watch South Carolina vs. Auburn on Oct. 1.