Ahead of its highly anticipated reunion with its longtime rival, Texas is playing championship-caliber defense in its first year in the SEC. The Longhorns have moved up to No. 3 in this week's updated stop rate standings.
What is stop rate? It's a basic measurement of success: the percentage of a defense's drives that end in punts, turnovers or a turnover on downs. Defensive coordinators have the same goal regardless of their scheme, opponent or conference: prevent points and get off the field. Stop rate is a simple metric but can offer a good reflection of a defense's effectiveness on a per-drive basis in today's faster-tempo game.