Positive Impact Factor: FBS Conference Defensive Ranks 2010
2010's Defensive Conference PIF Winner
The defensive version of the Positive Impact Factor has finally been calculated. The Defensive PIF formula works the same way as it does for the QB Positive Impact Factor except that like golf, a good Defensive PIF is a low number. The Pac 10 finished at the top of the conference ranks for the 2010 season. Part of what got the Pac 10 to the top of the heap was that Pac 10 did not have to face strong QBs on average in their own conference. The Pac 10's QBs were ranked 8th in the conference offensive PIF ranks.
Click on the Conference name to see the full data set for each team/division: ACC, Big XII, Big East, Big Ten, Conference USA, Independents, MAC, Mountain West, PAC 10, SEC, Sun Belt, WAC.
| Rank | Conference | Touches | Total TD | Neg Play | XNeg Play | XPos Play | PIF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Pac 10 | 5005 | 230 | 39.8 | 24.4 | 4.6 | 40.5 |
| 2. | ACC | 6201 | 285 | 40 | 21.8 | 4.6 | 42.8 |
| 3. | Big East | 3770 | 145 | 40.8 | 19.8 | 3.8 | 43.3 |
| 4. | MAC | 6330 | 302 | 37.1 | 24 | 4.8 | 43.6 |
| 5. | SEC | 6033 | 259 | 38.7 | 21.8 | 4.3 | 43.8 |
| 6. | WAC | 4743 | 220 | 39.8 | 20.7 | 4.6 | 44.1 |
| 7. | Big XII | 6566 | 291 | 37.6 | 22.2 | 4.4 | 44.7 |
| 8. | Big Ten | 5480 | 258 | 35.5 | 22.8 | 4.7 | 46.4 |
| 9. | Sun Belt | 4291 | 235 | 38 | 21.1 | 5.5 | 46.4 |
| 10. | MWC | 4069 | 204 | 37.7 | 18.2 | 5 | 49.1 |
| 11. | C-USA | 6165 | 366 | 37.9 | 14.5 | 5.9 | 53.6 |
The Pac 10 was led by Stanford and Oregon which were both in the top ten in the country in Defensive PIF. Stanford's 28.7 PIF was 3rd in the nation while Oregon's 29.8 landed them at 6th. Washington State's PIF of 50.1 was the lowest in the Pac 10 and 84th in the country.
Conference USA was the worst ranked conference and gave up a TD to an opposing QB almost 6% of the time an opposing QB touched the ball. Tulsa was the highest ranked team in the conference with a PIF of 33.3 which was good enough for 12th in the country. On the other hand, Memphis brought down the conference's average with a 64.9 Defensive PIF. Memphis was the third worst ranked team in the nation.
The average team Defensive PIF was 56.3. The Big East was the top conference at creating negative plays. Opposing QBs threw an incompletion, took a sack, or fumbled the ball on 40.8% of their plays against Big East teams. The MAC was ranked 4th overall but first in turning incompletions at INTs, which MAC teams did a rate of 8.8% of opposing QBs' incompletions. The Pac 10 led the country in causing opposing QBs to lose a fumble which occurred on 4.6% of opposing QB rushing attempts.
