College Football Stoppage Rate Rankings: Florida State Relies On Strong Defense For CFP Push

The College Football Playoff Selection Committee and everyone else in college football will be watching Florida State closely on Saturday night. What they will see is a Seminoles defense that keeps getting better and has climbed to No. 6 nationally in stop percentage.

What is the stop rate? It’s a basic measure of success: the percentage of a defense’s attacks that end in punts, turnovers or a turnover on downs. This simple metric can more accurately reflect a defense’s effectiveness in today’s faster-paced college football than yards per game or points per game. We’re now in our seventh year of tracking these statistics (here are the final rankings for 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017), along with each defense’s average points per offense.

The outstanding performance of offensive playmakers Jordan Travis, Trey Benson, Keon Coleman and Johnny Wilson has garnered most of the attention as Florida State posted a perfect 12-0 regular season. Travis’ season-ending leg injury against North Alabama complicated his team’s playoff case in a year when eight truly great teams were vying for four spots.

If the No. 4 Seminoles make a mistake in the ACC championship game against No. 14 Louisville, they’re probably out. Some will want to leave them out even if they win, arguing that they aren’t a top 4 team without their QB1. CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock’s statement Tuesday night that the committee was selecting the four “best” teams, rather than the four most deserving, caused a stir.

While most people understandably focus on the play of backup quarterback Tate Rodemaker, don’t underestimate the impact Florida State’s defense had on this run. In defensive coordinator Adam Fuller’s first season, that unit ranked 106th nationally with a 55 percent stop rate in 2020. Three years later, he has increased that rate to 75 percent.

They win with one of the best pass defenses in the country. Florida State has held four of its last six opponents under 100 passing yards, has more interceptions (nine) than passing touchdowns allowed (eight) and is No. 1 in the FBS in completion percentage defense, allowing just 47 .6 percent of attempts catches. If you’re one of the top 10 defenders when it comes to rushing the passer, the job is a little easier. Only Iowa and Clemson have forced more punts than the Seminoles this season.

Fuller has built a crew with impressive experience and depth. They have 20 different players who have played at least 200 snaps on the season, and 14 of those 20 are juniors or seniors. Successful additions to the transfer portal – including defensive end Jared Verse, linebacker Tatum Bethune, cornerback Fentrell Cypress II and defensive tackle Braden Fiske – helped accelerate this rebuild, but most of these top contributors arrived as high school signees and did hard work to develop and increase this program.

GO DEEPER

Mandel’s mailbag: What are Florida State’s prospects without Jordan Travis? Texas’ chance at CFP?

If the Seminoles want to continue competing for a national title, they will have to be at their best against Jeff Brohm’s Louisville offense in Charlotte. The Cardinals also know how to get stops and are currently ranked 18th in stop rate. They’ll have a lot of fan bases rallying behind them and praying for chaos on Saturday night. In the closest CFP race we’ve ever seen, the Seminoles will have the final say. And her defense seems ready to make a serious statement.

How do the rest of the defenses across the country perform in terms of stop rate? Find the complete FBS-only stop rate rankings for the 2023 regular season here.

Note: All data courtesy of TruMedia and Pro Football Focus.

Rk	G	Moves	Stop rate	Points/trip
1	12	125	81.6%	0.98
1	11	125	81.6%	1.04
3	12	148	79.7%	0.94
4	11	120	78.3%	1.04
5	11	122	75.4%	1.39
6	11	128	75%	1.30
6	11	136	75%	1.51
8th	11	142	74.6%	1.46
9	11	140	74.3%	1.50
10	11	121	73.6%	1.40
11	11	147	73.5%	1.54
12	12	139	73.4%	1.57
13	11	131	73.3%	1.44
14	12	145	73.1%	1.43
15	11	113	72.6%	1.49
16	11	116	72.4%	1.57
17	11	127	71.7%	1.61
18	11	126	71.4%	1.74
18	12	140	71.4%	1.51
20	11	136	71.3%	1.68
21	11	129	71.3%	1.41
22	11	113	70.8%	1.57
23	10	118	70.3%	1.94
24	11	120	70%	1.79
25	11	123	69.9%	1.77
26	12	138	69.6%	1.83
27	11	126	69%	1.75
28	11	112	68.8%	1.79
29	12	140	68.6%	1.98
30	11	120	68.3%	1.74
31	12	148	68.2%	1.71
32	11	116	68.1%	1.78
33	11	124	67.7%	1.82
34	12	123	67.5%	1.85
35	11	116	67.2%	1.97
36	12	137	67.2%	2.01
37	11	123	66.7%	1.93
38	11	125	66.4%	2.03
39	11	121	66.1%	2.03
40	11	118	66.1%	2.09
41	11	128	65.6%	1.85
42	11	142	65.5%	2.11
43	11	133	65.4%	1.97
44	11	130	65.4%	2.04
44	11	130	65.4%	1.90
46	11	121	65.3%	1.84
47	11	135	65.2%	2.13
48	12	143	65%	1.97
49	11	120	65%	2.02
50	11	122	64.8%	2.03
51	11	114	64%	2.17
52	11	139	64%	2.11
53	11	130	63.8%	2.06
54	11	135	63.7%	2.12
55	11	129	63.6%	2.00
56	11	120	63.3%	2.08
57	11	117	63.2%	2.14
58	11	133	63.2%	2.17
59	11	121	62.8%	2.05
59	11	121	62.8%	2.14
61	11	129	62.8%	2.09
62	11	145	62.8%	2.12
63	11	126	62.7%	2.15
64	11	130	62.3%	2.25
65	11	132	62.1%	2.23
66	11	131	61.8%	2.25
67	11	129	61.2%	2.27
68	11	118	61%	2.07
69	11	133	60.9%	2.21
70	11	120	60.8%	2.43
71	11	130	60.8%	2.31
72	11	122	60.7%	2.25
73	12	132	60.6%	2.34
74	11	129	60.5%	2.18
75	11	134	60.4%	2.32
76	11	126	60.3%	2.25
77	11	133	60.2%	2.51
78	11	127	59.8%	2.23
79	11	122	59.8%	2.30
79	11	122	59.8%	2.33
81	12	149	59.7%	2.36
82	11	144	59.7%	2.65
83	11	139	59.7%	2.50
84	11	124	59.7%	2.51
85	11	125	59.2%	2.45
86	11	115	59.1%	2.28
87	11	127	59.1%	2.40
88	11	129	58.9%	2.27
89	11	146	58.9%	2.54
90	11	109	58.7%	2.68
91	9	94	58.5%	2.43
92	12	141	58.2%	2.35
93	11	117	58.1%	2.37
94	11	138	58%	2.62
95	11	120	57.5%	2.59
95	11	120	57.5%	2.67
97	11	117	57.3%	2.46
98	11	124	57.3%	2.58
99	11	131	57.3%	2.60
100	11	128	57%	2.45
101	11	121	57%	2.69
102	12	143	56.6%	2.68
103	11	122	56.6%	2.45
104	11	117	56.4%	2.76
105	11	121	56.2%	2.56
106	12	146	56.2%	2.73
107	11	129	55.8%	2.69
108	11	124	55.6%	2.66
109	11	137	55.5%	2.53
110	11	130	55.4%	2.42
111	11	134	55.2%	2.63
111	11	134	55.2%	2.66
113	11	125	55.2%	2.66
114	12	129	55%	2.82
115	11	119	54.6%	2.80
116	11	130	54.6%	2.56
116	11	130	54.6%	3.14
118	11	134	54.5%	2.84
119	11	129	54.3%	2.66
120	11	124	54%	2.90
121	11	128	53.9%	2.88
122	11	118	53.4%	2.65
123	11	133	52.6%	3.06
124	11	120	50.8%	3.10
125	11	122	50.8%	3.16
126	12	127	50.4%	3.02
127	11	131	49.6%	2.93
128	11	123	49.6%	2.89
129	11	129	48.8%	3.05
130	11	123	48.8%	3.19
131	11	128	47.7%	3.16
132	11	127	47.2%	3.33
133	11	114	41.2%	3.40

(Photo: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)