2025 College Football Defense Rankings: Team Pass and Rush Stats

Updated Jan. 11, 2026 8:20 p.m. ET

Data Skrive

What FBS teams have been the best on defense through Week 20 of college football? See below, because rankings across several stats are provided for you. Is your favorite team represented? Check out the ranking lists below.

NCAA FBS Team Defense Rankings through Week 20

Total Defense

#	Team	Defense Yards Avg.
1	Ohio State (3)	219.1
2	Toledo	255.2
3	Texas Tech (4)	258.4
4	Indiana (1)	260.9
5	James Madison	266.6
6	Oklahoma	272.5
7	Oregon	273.7
8	Missouri	275.2
9	Iowa	280.4
10	Fresno State	285.7

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Passing Defense

#	Team	Pass Yards Allowed Avg.	Pass TD Allowed
1	Ohio State (3)	129.7	7
2	Fresno State	153.7	18
3	Nebraska	154.1	9
4	Toledo	156.2	10
5	Oregon	157.9	19
6	San Diego State	162.8	14
7	Arizona	165.3	9
8	North Texas	166.2	16
9	Alabama	170.3	16
10	Iowa	172.7	9

Rushing Defense

#	Team	Rush Yards Allowed Avg.	Rush TD Allowed
1	Texas Tech (4)	68.1	8
2	Indiana (1)	75.0	6
3	Oklahoma	77.3	7
4	Georgia (2)	81.5	14
5	James Madison	85.1	9
6	Miami (FL)	86.5	10
7	Ohio State (3)	89.4	5
8	Pittsburgh	95.1	12
9	Notre Dame	98.8	8
10	Toledo	98.9	12

Scoring Defense

#	Team	Points Allowed Avg.
1	Ohio State (3)	9.3
2	Indiana (1)	11.1
3	Texas Tech (4)	11.8
4	Toledo	13.3
5	Miami (FL)	14.0
6	San Diego State	15.4
7	Oklahoma	15.5
8	Iowa	16.1
9	Western Michigan	17.4
10	Georgia (2)	17.6

Red Zone Defense

#	Team	Defense Red Zone Score Rate
1	Ohio State (3)	64.3%
2	Wyoming	68.8%
3	San Diego State	69.0%
4	SMU	70.2%
5	BYU	70.4%
6	East Carolina	70.5%
7	Toledo	71.4%
8	Louisiana Tech	71.8%
8	Old Dominion	71.8%
10	South Florida	72.2%

Third Down Defense

#	Team	Defense Third Down Rate
1	Texas A&M	22.6%
2	Virginia	28.0%
2	Oklahoma	28.0%
4	UTEP	28.6%
5	Toledo	29.0%
6	James Madison	29.2%
7	Texas Tech (4)	29.9%
8	Indiana (1)	30.3%
8	Miami (FL)	30.3%
10	Ohio State (3)	30.5%