Much has been said about the talent of the defenses on display for this Saturday night's game between Alabama and LSU. Excellent as they have been, they are not the only defenses from the SEC who have routinely turned in great performances this year. As of today four of the top five teams in the country in total defense are from the SEC:

1. Alabama - 180.5 YPG
2. Michigan State - 228.8 YPG
3. LSU - 251.4 YPG
4. South Carolina - 266.1 YPG
5. Georgia 267.1 YPG

Additionally Florida is 15th and Vanderbilt is 26th.

On the other side of the ball, no team in the SEC ranks higher in total offense than Alabama at 22 followed by Arkansas at 25. No other SEC team ranks in the top 50 and over half the conference is worse than 80th (LSU - 81, Auburn - 89, Florida - 94, Tennessee - 102, Vanderbilt - 105, Ole Miss - 115, and Kentucky - 118)  

From 2007 to 2010 the best performance in total defense was 2008 TCU at 217 YPG. To date Alabama has improved on that mark by 17%.

Are SEC Defenses really that good or might it be that SEC Offenses are really that bad?