College Football Stat Leaders

2024 American College Football Defensive PPA Leaders

Predicted points added allowed per defensive play.

Seasons Covered

2012-2025

Current Leader

Tulane (0.055)

Best Season

UCF 2016 (-0.033)

Scope

American • 2024

Browse Metrics

Crawl sibling stat pages without leaving the shared leaderboard template.

Total Yards Per GamePassing Yards Per GameRushing Yards Per GamePoints Per GameOffensive PPADefensive PPATurnover MarginHavoc Rate

What The Numbers Say

Route-specific context pulled from the current leaderboard, winner trend, and historical baseline.

How Defensive PPA Reads

Defensive PPA is a prevention metric, so lower numbers are better because elite defenses consistently erase scoring value and force opponents into less efficient possessions. On this 2024 leaderboard, the visible range runs 0.055 to 0.138, with Tulane setting the pace.

American Context

American teams have claimed 100% of the yearly titles in this filtered dataset, and East Carolina is the latest winner at 0.050.

Spread At The Top

The gap from No. 1 Tulane to No. 5 South Florida is 0.083, which shows how tightly packed the top of this leaderboard is.

Recent Trend And Baseline

The yearly winning mark improved from 0.055 in 2024 to 0.050 in 2025, a swing of 0.005. Tulane's current mark of 0.055 sits below the all-time average leader benchmark of -0.001 held by Louisville.

Leaderboard

Top 14 rows for the current route scope.

1TulaneAmerican Athletic Conference20240.055
2UTSAAmerican Athletic20240.097
3NavyAmerican Athletic Conference20240.113
4ArmyAmerican Athletic Conference20240.125
5South FloridaAmerican Athletic Conference20240.138
6RiceAmerican Athletic Conference20240.146
7East CarolinaAmerican Athletic Conference20240.152
8MemphisAmerican Athletic Conference20240.170
9Florida AtlanticAmerican Athletic Conference20240.205
10UABAmerican Athletic Conference20240.218
11CharlotteAmerican Athletic Conference20240.218
12North TexasAmerican Athletic Conference20240.221
13TempleAmerican Athletic Conference20240.224
14TulsaAmerican Athletic Conference20240.332

Trend Chart

Yearly winning values for the current filter scope.

Yearly Winners

SeasonTeamConferenceValue
2025East CarolinaAmerican Athletic Conference0.050
2024TulaneAmerican Athletic Conference0.055
2023SMUAmerican Athletic Conference0.009
2022CincinnatiAmerican Athletic Conference0.061
2021HoustonAmerican Athletic Conference0.039
2020CincinnatiAmerican Athletic Conference0.010
2019UCFAmerican Athletic Conference0.042
2018CincinnatiAmerican Athletic Conference0.010
2017UTSAAmerican Athletic0.032
2016UCFAmerican Athletic Conference-0.033
2015TempleAmerican Athletic Conference0.049
2014TempleAmerican Athletic Conference-0.004
2013LouisvilleAmerican Athletic Conference-0.001
2012UTSAAmerican Athletic0.083

Historical Leaderboard

Average across seasons for each team in the current filter scope.

RankTeamSeasonsAverageBest Season
1Louisville2013-0.0012013 (-0.001)
2Cincinnati2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 20130.0942020 (0.010)
3UCF2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 20130.1112016 (-0.033)
4Rutgers20130.1272013 (0.127)
5Houston2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 20130.1302021 (0.039)
6UTSA2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 20120.1352017 (0.032)
7Memphis2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 20130.1462014 (0.029)
8Tulane2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 20140.1472024 (0.055)
9Army2025, 20240.1502024 (0.125)
10Temple2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 20130.1562014 (-0.004)
11South Florida2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 20130.1672013 (0.040)
12Rice2025, 2024, 20230.1702023 (0.125)
13Navy2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 20150.1872019 (0.092)
14East Carolina2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 20140.1922025 (0.050)
15SMU2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 20130.1922023 (0.009)
16Tulsa2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 20140.1942020 (0.026)
17Charlotte2025, 2024, 20230.1992023 (0.154)
18Florida Atlantic2025, 2024, 20230.2002023 (0.170)
19UConn2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 20130.2212013 (0.032)
20North Texas2025, 2024, 20230.2322025 (0.162)
21UAB2025, 2024, 20230.2672024 (0.218)

Frequently Asked Questions

Who leads the American defensive ppa leaderboard in 2024?

Tulane ranks first at 0.055 in 2024.

Which American program has the best long-term defensive ppa profile?

Louisville owns the strongest all-time average at -0.001 across 1 tracked seasons in this conference scope.

How does the American race compare with the recent trend?

East Carolina is the most recent yearly winner in this conference scope, so the route combines the current leaderboard with a recent trend line instead of showing only one season snapshot.