While the Week 3 BlitzIndex (BI) was useful to highlight the solid defenses of Florida State and Iowa, those rankings didn’t turn into wins for them. But the Seminoles forced Wake Forest into 7 FG attempts and the BI may have kept you from playing DJ Boldin or Josh Adams. The Hawkeyes did however keep Pitt’s LeSean McCoy mostly in check and if they had any QB play at all may have earned a road upset.

This week, USC takes over the top spot which I doubt will be affected by their Thursday Night game at Oregon State. Florida joins Florida State in the top three after an absolute de-pantsing of the Tennessee Volunteers. Interesting that BYU Cougars defense shows up at #13 when there has been so much focus this BCS-Busters offense.

And like the AP Top 25, the BI has five SEC teams in the Top 12 continuing to prove that conference faces the most difficult schedules in the land. Could Alabama be for real? We will know soon when they travel to play Georgia between the hedges. Full ranking sheet after the jump:

A reminder that at the bottom is the VAR study that highlights differences in national ranks of pass and run defenses. I looked back a couple years and BC always has unusual readings here even though big variances usually highlight bad units. But Georgia stands out to me as a team vulnerable to the pass – perhaps John Parker Wilson will take advantage of that?

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PS – check out my exclusive “Cheap Kickers” list for Week Five on my blog on the FCB Forum. Always good to have a free agent alternative available at the K spot.

PPS – full sheet on Google docs here.

Related posts:

1. Debut of 2008 BlitzIndex Defensive Rankings
2. BlitzIndex Defense Rankings for Week 11: Trojans perfect again
3. Defense Rankings: BlitzIndex for Week Ten
4. BlitzIndex College Football Defense Rankings for Week 6
5. College Football Defense Rankings BLITZIndex Week 4 – Ducks still flying high

Tags: BlitzIndex