The adage “Defense wins championships,” will always be true. It might not be as sexy as scoring points, but one could argue that it feels more invigorating to show your physical dominance over a team with stop after stop. Using PFSN’s Defensive Impact Metrics, here are the top 10 defenses in Week 10 of the 2025 season.
10) Kentucky Wildcats
Week 10 PFSN College DEFi Grade: 84.5 (B)
It’s becoming a staple of our rankings to coincide with at least one head coach getting fired as a result of their team’s opponent appearing on our list. Oklahoma State, Arkansas, LSU, and now Auburn have fired their coaches in the same week as their opponent, cracking our top 10 rankings.
According to TruMedia, the Wildcats held Auburn to their lowest total under the tenure of Hugh Freeze. A truly elite way for the Tigers to go out, allowing a Kentucky defense giving up 26.8 points per game to stifle them in a manner worse than Kentucky’s 2024 wins over Murray State and Ohio.
The Kentucky defense ranks No. 48 this season in our impact metrics, and it appears this could be the turning point they need to become more consistent as the season progresses.
9) Oregon State Beavers
Week 10 PFSN College DEFi Grade: 84.6 (B)
Oregon State’s first matchup of the season with the Washington State Cougars ended in a 10-7 win, where they totaled two interceptions and six sacks. If the defense continues to show up when the offense can’t, the Beavers could etch their names in history as the final conference champion in the Pac-Two era.
8) Buffalo Bulls
Week 10 PFSN College DEFi Grade: 84.9 (B)
Buffalo ranks No. 54 in our rankings this season despite this being their second top-10 appearance. The 28-3 win over Bowling Green was impressive defensively, especially considering their 216 total yards of offense allowed. That is the lowest mark for the Bulls this season by almost 100 yards.
7) San Diego State Aztecs
Week 10 PFSN College DEFi Grade: 85.1 (B)
The San Diego State Aztecs have now placed seventh in our defensive rankings for a second-straight week with nearly the same score. The Aztecs’ pass rush is led by one of my top predicted transfer players, Trey White. They rank No. 29 in pressure rate this season, and White has contributed almost double (31) any other defender on the team.
6) Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
Week 10 PFSN College DEFi Grade: 85.5 (B)
The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers find themselves in our top 10 for the fifth time since 2019 and the seventh time in the top 25 in that same time frame. 16.27% of teams inside our top 10 since 2019 have allowed over 14 points, and the Hilltoppers join those ranks.
Despite allowing 16 points, they managed to hold New Mexico State to just 178 total yards. Part of what makes this Western Kentucky defense so stout is its ninth-best 2.2 yards per play allowed in the red zone.
5) Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Week 10 PFSN College DEFi Grade: 85.7 (B)
It certainly wasn’t pretty for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, having to grind out a win over a 1-7 (at the time) Boston College. Fortunately, this Irish defense is night and day different from the team we saw get destroyed by Miami and Texas A&M to start the season, and this will matter a lot if they find a way to sneak into the playoffs.
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The Irish defense managed an 85.7 grade despite this being their second-worst performance from a discipline perspective. They had six total defensive penalties, resulting in a loss of 2.32 EPA (expected points added) from these penalties in total. Nevertheless, they managed to record five sacks and three interceptions, holding the Eagles to just 10 points.
4) North Carolina Tar Heels
Week 10 PFSN College DEFi Grade: 86.2 (B)
After getting crushed early in the season, the Bill Belichick Tar Heels are quietly putting together some impressive performances. North Carolina ranks 35th with an 80.9 score on the season. They’ve actually allowed a 23rd-best 4.8 yards per play but have been victim to the 38th-worst starting field position for FBS defenses this season.
If the offense can figure it out, Belichick has these guys playing tough defensively. Who knows what potential this defense has if we get more than one season of Chapel Hill Bill?
3) Old Dominion Monarchs
Week 10 PFSN College DEFi Grade: 87.1 (B+)
Old Dominion ranks sixth among Group of Five defenses on the season and No. 40 in total with an 80.5 score in 2025. Before this season, the Monarchs had managed mediocrity and consistency with five straight seasons of C-/C performances on defense.
Ironically enough, they managed to go above .500 in none of those seasons. Flash forward to 2025, and they are 6-3, doing it on the back of a defense that ranks No. 43, with an offense that ranks No. 72.
2) Baylor Bears
Week 10 PFSN College DEFi Grade: 88.5 (B+)
An unfamiliar defense ranks second in this week’s ranking, with the Baylor Bears scoring an 88.5 in our impact metric. They beat the UCF Knights 30-3, despite two turnovers and 225 total yards allowed. In fact, it wasn’t until under three minutes remaining in the second quarter that the Knights reached midfield against the Baylor defense.
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Matthew Fobbs-White leads the team in pressures with 30 on the season and ranks No. 27 in the FBS. Despite this, White has a total of zero sacks, giving him the title of most pressures without a sack this season. Old Dominion defensive linemen Jeremy Meiser is the only player to finish the season with more pressures without a sack after he notched 34 in 2019. Hopefully, White will be able to get off this list in the coming weeks.
1) Indiana Hoosiers
Week 10 PFSN College DEFi Grade: 93.5 (A)
For the third time this season and the second week in a row, the Indiana Hoosiers are ranked No. 1 in the defensive rankings. The Hoosiers continue to challenge Ohio State for the best defense over the last half-decade. Week after week, they force turnovers and absolutely stifle opposing offenses.
The Hoosiers have forced three or more turnovers in three games this season, and the win over Maryland included five of them. That puts them in a group of just 27 defenses to have forced five or more this season. Among those to force a turnover is corner Louis Moore, who now has tied for the most interceptions in the FBS with five total.