College Football Stat Leaders

2017 Big Ten College Football Defensive PPA Leaders

Predicted points added allowed per defensive play.

Seasons Covered

2003-2025

Current Leader

Wisconsin (-0.040)

Best Season

Michigan 2004 (-0.146)

Scope

Big Ten • 2017

Browse Metrics

Crawl sibling stat pages without leaving the shared leaderboard template.

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 2017 leaderboard, the visible range runs -0.040 to 0.037, with Wisconsin setting the pace.

Big Ten Context

Big Ten teams have claimed 100% of the yearly titles in this filtered dataset, and Ohio State is the latest winner at -0.014.

Spread At The Top

The gap from No. 1 Wisconsin to No. 5 Northwestern is 0.076, which shows how tightly packed the top of this leaderboard is.

Recent Trend And Baseline

The yearly winning mark improved from -0.010 in 2024 to -0.014 in 2025, a swing of 0.003. Wisconsin's current mark of -0.040 sits above the all-time average leader benchmark of 0.011 held by Ohio State.

Leaderboard

Top 14 rows for the current route scope.

1WisconsinBig Ten Conference2017-0.040
2MichiganBig Ten Conference2017-0.011
3Ohio StateBig Ten Conference20170.028
4IowaBig Ten Conference20170.032
5NorthwesternBig Ten Conference20170.037
6Penn StateBig Ten Conference20170.048
7Michigan StateBig Ten Conference20170.070
8IndianaBig Ten Conference20170.083
9PurdueBig Ten Conference20170.084
10MinnesotaBig Ten Conference20170.150
11RutgersBig Ten Conference20170.151
12IllinoisBig Ten Conference20170.176
13MarylandBig Ten Conference20170.214
14NebraskaBig Ten Conference20170.261

Trend Chart

Yearly winning values for the current filter scope.

Historical Leaderboard

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

RankTeamSeasonsAverageBest Season
1Ohio State2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 20030.0112003 (-0.143)
2Iowa2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 20030.0262004 (-0.134)
3Penn State2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 20030.0302014 (-0.045)
4Michigan2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 20030.0312004 (-0.146)
5Wisconsin2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 20030.0342006 (-0.095)
6Michigan State2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 20030.0682012 (-0.080)
7Oregon2025, 20240.0762025 (0.041)
8Northwestern2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 20030.0802004 (-0.047)
9Washington2025, 20240.0942025 (0.057)
10Illinois2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 20030.1092022 (-0.038)
11Minnesota2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 20030.1102003 (0.005)
12Indiana2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 20030.1112004 (-0.021)
13Purdue2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 20030.1222003 (-0.057)
14Nebraska2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 20110.1282012 (-0.013)
15Maryland2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 20140.1522022 (0.076)
16USC2025, 20240.1602025 (0.149)
17Rutgers2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 20140.2032023 (0.116)
18UCLA2025, 20240.2122024 (0.163)

Frequently Asked Questions

Who leads the Big Ten defensive ppa leaderboard in 2017?

Wisconsin ranks first at -0.040 in 2017.

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

Ohio State owns the strongest all-time average at 0.011 across 23 tracked seasons in this conference scope.

How does the Big Ten race compare with the recent trend?

Ohio State 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.