Texas Football: Ranking the 5 best defenses the Longhorns face in 2018

The Big 12 is usually thought of as a weak conference defensively, but Texas football a few others look to change that perception in 2018.

Texas football plays in a conference where defense usually isn’t the primary focus of season preparation. However, defense is a bigger focus of teams like the Maryland Terrapins when playing in the Big 10 and the USC Trojans with the pure amount of talent that program has on that side of the ball. Even the Tulsa Golden Hurricane will have a primary focus on defense knowing it faces the Longhorns in Week 2.

The very beginning of the regular season schedule does not do any favors for the Texas offense. Even after getting past Maryland, Tulsa, and USC, the Horns have a very tough Big 12 opener. The TCU Horned Frogs lie in waiting for the Horns to kick off Big 12 play this year. TCU pretty consistently boasts one of the best defenses in the conference, if not the best.

A heavier focus should fall on the defensive side of the ball for some programs that you wouldn’t initially think of in the Big 12 too in 2018. The Baylor Bears, Oklahoma State Cowboys, and Texas Tech Red Raiders should all be better on defense this fall. Baylor and Texas Tech both have more defensive minded coaching staffs this year than in year’s past.

Oklahoma State was one of the few programs in the Big 12 that made a surprising change at defensive coordinator. On the other hand, Texas will have one of the best defenses in the Big 12 in the second year under defensive coordinator Todd Orlando.

Here’s a look at the definitive ranking of the five best defenses that the Texas Longhorns face in 2018.