2011 NCAA Football Preview - Defense

You have heard the saying before - "defense wins championships". This saying is indeed true. You don't have to be a dominating defense that shuts the opponent down every week. You do need to have some playmakers and come up big when it matters most.

Here is a conference by conference look at where the team defenses rank:

ACC
1. Florida St.
2. Miami
3. North Carolina
4. Boston College
5. Virginia Tech
6. Maryland
7. Clemson
8. NC State
9. Virginia
10. Georgia Tech
11. Wake Forest
12. Duke

Big East
1. West Virginia
2. UConn
3. South Florida
4. Pittsburgh
5. Rutgers
6. Cincinnati
7. Syracuse
8. Louisville

Big 12
1. Oklahoma
2. Texas
3. Texas A&M
4. Missouri
5. Oklahoma St.
6. Iowa St.
7. Kansas St.
8. Texas Tech
9. Kansas
10. Baylor

Big 10
1. Nebraska
2. Ohio St.
3. Wisconsin
4. Penn St.
5. Michigan St.
6. Iowa
7. Purdue
8. Illinois
9. Michigan
10. Northwestern
11. Minnesota
12. Indiana

Pac-12
1. Oregon
2. Arizona St.
3. USC
4. Stanford
5. Cal
6. Washington
7. Arizona
8. Utah
9. UCLA
10. Oregon St.
11. Colorado
12. Washington St.

SEC
1. Alabama
2. Arkansas
3. LSU
4. Florida
5. South Carolina
6. Georgia
7. Tennessee
8. Mississippi St.
9. Kentucky
10. Auburn
11. Vanderbilt
12. Ole Miss

C-USA
1. SMU
2. Southern Miss
3. Central Florida
4. Tulsa
5. Marshall
6. Houston
7. UAB
8. Tulane
9. UTEP
10. Memphis
11. East Carolina
12. Rice

MAC
1. Miami (OH)
2. Ball St.
3. Western Michigan
4. Northern Illinois
5. Kent St.
6. Toledo
7. Temple
8. Ohio
9. Central Michigan
10. Akron
11. Eastern Michigan
12. Buffalo
13. Bowling Green

MWC
1. Boise St.
2. TCU
3. San Diego St.
4. Air Force
5. Wyoming
6. Colorado St.
7. New Mexico
8. UNLV

Sun Belt
1. Arkansas St.
2. Florida International
3. UL-Monroe
4. Middle Tennessee
5. Troy
6. North Texas
7. Western Kentucky
8. UL-Lafayette
9. Florida Atlantic

WAC
1. Hawaii
2. Nevada
3. Fresno St.
4. Utah St.
5. Louisiana Tech
6. San Jose St.
7. Idaho
8. New Mexico St.

Independents
1. Notre Dame
2. Navy
3. BYU
4. Army