There’s two ways a team produces one of the most improved defenses from a season earlier.
One way is to have a solid group and watch it become great. That’s what happened at Alabama and Florida this season (with the aid of some abysmal SEC offenses).
SEE RELATED:The other way is to have a bad defense and watch it move much closer to the mean.
The latter is the case for Navy.
The Midshipmen rank 37th nationally in scoring defense, which is a good spot to find yourself before . Last year, Navy finished 108th in scoring defense, which needless to say was below average.
Navy’s turnaround —- a 15-point swing per game —- was the best in the country. Here’s the full top 10, with records for each team included:
| School | ‘07 SD | ‘08 SD |
Change | ‘08 Record |
| Navy | 36.4 | 21.4 | 15.0 | 8-4 |
| Northern Illinois |
30.8 | 18.1 | 12.7 | 6-6 |
| Florida | 25.5 | 12.9 | 12.6 | 12-1 |
| Alabama | 25.5 | 13.0 | 12.5 | 12-1 |
| Northwestern | 31.0 | 19.3 | 11.7 | 9-3 |
| Duke | 33.1 | 23.4 | 9.7 | 4-8 |
| East Carolina |
30.4 | 20.8 | 9.6 | 9-4 |
| Boise State |
21.6 | 12.3 | 9.3 | 12-0 |
| Nebraska | 37.9 | 29.2 | 8.7 | 8-4 |
| Florida Intenational |
39.1 | 30.6 | 8.5 | 5-7 |
Please read our comment policy before commenting.