Greg McElroy ranks top 10 defenses in college football entering 2025

On an episode of his show this week, ESPN’s Greg McElroy ranked the top 10 defenses in college football entering the 2025 season.

Texas topped McElroy’s ranking and was 1 of 4 teams from the SEC to land in the top 10. With Anthony Hill Jr., Colin Simmons, Trey Moore, and Michael Taaffe making up the heart of the Texas defense, the Longhorns are expected to be one of the stingiest groups in all of college football next season. That defense, coupled with the excitement around quarterback Arch Manning, has made Texas one of the favorites to win the SEC and led to some of the shortest odds of any team in the country to win the national championship

“If you look at what they have, it’s honestly off the charts from a star power standpoint,” McElroy said. “They’ve lost some key pieces… notably at defensive tackle… I don’t think there’s a team in the country that has a higher ceiling than Texas with the amount of guys that can take over the game, and absolutely wreck the opponent’s offense.”

Georgia (No. 4), Alabama (No. 6), and Oklahoma (No. 7) also joined the Longhorns in McElroy’s rundown of the top units in college football.

He included Ole Miss, South Carolina, and Tennessee as honorable mentions, alongside Indiana, Iowa, and Nebraska. Here’s the full top 10:

1. Texas
2. Ohio State
3. Penn State
4. Georgia
5. Notre Dame
6. Alabama
7. Oklahoma
8. Michigan
9. Oregon
10. Clemson

Texas led the nation last season in opponent-adjusted EPA per play allowed, according to Game on Paper. Oklahoma’s inclusion in McElroy’s ranking might catch some by surprise, given the Sooners’ overall struggle last season, but the defense was carrying Brent Venables’ squad. OU ranked eighth in EPA per play allowed. Alabama ranked 10th.

In fact, 6 of McElroy’s top 7 defenses ranked in the top 10 last season for EPA per play allowed. Georgia (55th), Michigan (32nd), Oregon (38th), and Clemson (46th) did not. Georgia has the talent to have a bounceback season. Michigan and Oregon both have big expectations in 2025. And Clemson swiped Tom Allen from Penn State to be its new defensive coordinator.

You can watch McElroy’s justification for each inclusion in his ranking below:

Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.