Golden Rankings, defensive averages

We still wait on the Golden team rankings for another week, but as promised, this week will we look at the defensive team rankings. As you may recall, we modified the rankings this year to enter in both scores for each game, instead of just the margin, allowing us to calculate the average points and points allowed for each team, and to measure a team's offensive an defensive performance in each game in relation to their opponents averages. Last week we looked at the top offenses, this week we look at defenses. These are the top ten (11) teams in holding their opponents under their average points per game. Remember that these numbers are the average amount these teams' opponents are scoring under their yearly average.

1)James Madison -- 18.6 -- the slayer of Virginia Tech has only allowed 39 points in four games to teams that are scoring 28 points per game. Granted Liberty and Morehead State are not powerhouse, but this is still impressive, especially considering the Hokies scored 30 on Boise State and 41 on NC State.
t2)Illinois -- 17.4 -- This is what happens when you hold one of the top scoring offenses in the county (OSU) 20 points under their season average.
t2)Arizona -- 17.4 -- This average seems a little more sustainable than the top two. Of course, they still have to play Oregon and Stanford.
4)Miami -- 15.7 -- held Pitt 24 points under their season average
5)Alabama -- 14.9 -- Four out of five opponents held ten points or more below their season average.
6)Penn State -- 14.8 -- This may be a function of the Penn State offense lulling the other team to sleep
7)Navy -- 13.7 -- Helped by a relatively weak schedule.
8)Florida -- 13.1 -- Only Alabama scored more than 17 on them
9)Oregon -- 12.7 -- God help the rest of the country if they keep this stat up, as we all know they will score.
t10)Stanford -- 12.4 -- How good is the Oregon offense? They scored 52 against Stanford and their season average went down.
t10)LSU -- 12.4 -- Even Les Miles can't mismange this defense.