College Football Stat Leaders

Conference USA College Football Defensive PPA Leaders

Predicted points added allowed per defensive play.

Seasons Covered

2003-2025

Current Leader

Louisville (-0.137)

Best Season

Louisville 2004 (-0.137)

Scope

Conference USA

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 Conference USA leaderboard, the visible range runs -0.137 to -0.094, with Louisville setting the pace.

Conference USA Context

Conference USA teams have claimed 100% of the yearly titles in this filtered dataset, and Louisiana Tech is the latest winner at 0.045.

Spread At The Top

The gap from No. 1 Louisville to No. 5 TCU is 0.043, which shows how tightly packed the top of this leaderboard is.

Recent Trend And Baseline

The yearly winning mark improved from 0.089 in 2024 to 0.045 in 2025, a swing of 0.044. Louisville's current mark of -0.137 sits above the all-time average leader benchmark of -0.106 held by Cincinnati.

Leaderboard

Top 25 rows for the current route scope.

1LouisvilleConference USA2004-0.137
2CincinnatiConference USA2003-0.115
3UABConference USA2004-0.106
4CincinnatiConference USA2004-0.097
5TCUConference USA2003-0.094
6Southern MissConference USA2003-0.083
7Southern MissConference USA2004-0.065
8UABConference USA2003-0.049
9South FloridaConference USA2003-0.036
10East CarolinaConference USA2008-0.032
11UCFConference USA2008-0.031
12TulaneConference USA2003-0.024
13Southern MissConference USA2011-0.021
14TCUConference USA2004-0.015
15TulsaConference USA2012-0.012
16ArmyConference USA2003-0.012
17HoustonConference USA2005-0.010
18UABConference USA2018-0.009
19TulsaConference USA2005-0.008
20Florida AtlanticConference USA2013-0.007
21Southern MissConference USA2010-0.007
22UCFConference USA20070.000
23Southern MissConference USA20180.000
24MarshallConference USA20150.002
25TulsaConference USA20060.004

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
1Cincinnati2004, 2003-0.1062003 (-0.115)
2Louisville2004, 2003-0.0592004 (-0.137)
3TCU2004, 2003-0.0542003 (-0.094)
4Tulsa2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 20050.0242012 (-0.012)
5Army2004, 20030.0302003 (-0.012)
6UCF2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 20050.0402008 (-0.031)
7South Florida2004, 20030.0422003 (-0.036)
8East Carolina2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 20030.0562008 (-0.032)
9Tulane2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 20030.0622003 (-0.024)
10SMU2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 20050.0672012 (0.025)
11Houston2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 20030.0682005 (-0.010)
12Southern Miss2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 20030.0722003 (-0.083)
13Memphis2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 20030.0742003 (0.026)
14Marshall2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 20050.0762015 (0.002)
15UAB2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 20030.0802004 (-0.106)
16Jacksonville State2025, 2024, 20230.1142023 (0.046)
17Louisiana Tech2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 20130.1332014 (0.040)
18Western Kentucky2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 20140.1522022 (0.087)
19UTEP2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 20050.1532005 (0.021)
20Liberty2025, 2024, 20230.1552024 (0.099)
21Florida Atlantic2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 20130.1552013 (-0.007)
22Middle Tennessee2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 20130.1562017 (0.053)
23Sam Houston2025, 2024, 20230.1662024 (0.094)
24Florida International2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 20130.1782014 (0.040)
25Rice2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 20050.1852011 (0.035)

Frequently Asked Questions

Who leads the Conference USA defensive ppa leaderboard?

Louisville ranks first at -0.137.

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

Cincinnati owns the strongest all-time average at -0.106 across 2 tracked seasons in this conference scope.

How does the Conference USA race compare with the recent trend?

Louisiana Tech 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.