1 of 11

Jim Lytle/Associated Press

Mississippi State Bulldogs: 4.13 YPP (1st), 263.1 YPG (1st), 13.2 PPG (2nd)

Mississippi State came out of nowhere last year, leading the nation in yards per play after six consecutive seasons ranked 40th or worse. A return to mediocrity is likely in the Bulldogs' future after they lost three first-round draft picks (Jeffery Simmons, Montez Sweat and Johnathan Abram) to the NFL.

Michigan State Spartans: 4.54 YPP (5th), 303.2 YPG (10th), 17.2 PPG (8th)

Getting Joe Bachie and Kenny Willekes back as senior leaders—provided Willekes can return to full strength after breaking his leg in Michigan State's bowl game—is huge for the Spartans, but there are some major question marks in the secondary with Khari Willis and Justin Layne out of the picture. Although, if safety David Dowell looks more like he did in 2017 than he did in 2018, Michigan State could be in business.

Washington Huskies: 4.67 YPP (11th), 306.2 YPG (12th), 16.4 PPG (5th)

Washington's defense has been sensational, anchoring three consecutive years with a double-digit number in the wins column. However, the Huskies lost just about every key player except for DB Myles Bryant. It was a testament to this program's strength in recent seasons that five defenders were selected in the first five rounds of the 2019 NFL draft. They'll likely drop outside the top 10 while trying to replace all those stars, though.

Miami Hurricanes: 4.30 YPP (3rd), 278.9 YPG (4th), 19.5 PPG (18th)

Manny Diaz had an incredible run as Miami's defensive coordinator for the past three seasons, leading a unit that ranked top 12 in yards per play in each year. But now he's the head coach, and six of last year's top 10 tacklers are gone. Similar to Washington, we're not expecting a full-blown collapse from elite to awful. But there's enough attrition/change that a drop into the teens or twenties seems likely.

Iowa Hawkeyes: 4.56 YPP (6th), 293.6 YPG (7th), 17.8 PPG (11th)

Iowa has possibly the best individual defender in the country in A.J. Epenesa but also lost all four of last year's leading tacklers as well as Epenesa's pass-rushing partner in crime, Anthony Nelson. Could be similar to Jadeveon Clowney's final two seasons at South Carolina, when the Gamecocks had one of the best players in the world and still couldn't rank top 10 in yards allowed per play.