Will Muschamp as a previous and future head coach will be debated continually at water coolers and tailgates for the foreseeable future, but when it comes to Coach Boom as a defensive coordinator, there’s really no debate. Muschamp has proven himself as one of the best defensive coaches in all of football.

In an era where the innovation and focus is on the offensive side of the ball, and offensive minded coaches like Malzahn and Sumlin are getting paid upwards of five million dollars, how important is Muschamp’s elite defense to a championship run? A look at some data since Muschamp returned to the college game after a brief stint with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins reveals that defense still matters.

Muschamp was the defensive coordinator at Auburn from 2006-2007, the defensive coordinator at Texas from 2008-2010 and the head coach at Florida from 2011-2014. While he employed a defensive coordinator at Florida, we’ll still give him credit for the defense.

Year Team Scoring Offense
Nat’l Rank		 Scoring Defese
Nat’l Rank		 Record
2006 Auburn 56 7 11-2
2007 Auburn 86 6 9-4
2008 Texas 5 18 12-1
2009 Texas 3 12 13-1
2010 Texas 88 49 5-7
2011 Florida 71 20 7-6
2012 Florida 78 5 11-2
2013 Florida 113 15 4-8
2014 Florida 56 19 7-5

Twice in his career, Muschamp’s team won eleven games despite a mediocre offense. Both times, his defense was a top ten defense with regards to national scoring defense rankings.

In 2006, Muschamp returned to the college game to lead an elite defense at Auburn under head coach Tommy Tuberville. Auburn knocked off two BCS teams on the way to an 11-2 record (Florida and LSU), but lost to SEC West champion Arkansas. It’s worth noting that while Muschamp led the top ten defense of Auburn in 2006, he inherited a top ten defense from 2005.

More recently, Muschamp led a defense-first Florida squad to an 11-1 regular season record in 2012 (followed up with a loss in the Sugar Bowl). Despite an abysmal offense under quarterback Jeff Driskel, Muschamp’s elite defense and elite specials teams play carried the Gators to a BCS bowl berth.

If Muschamp’s run at Florida proved anything, it is that relying almost solely on the defense to win games comes with too thin a margin for error. The defense has to be essentially perfect, and special teams has to make a few big plays to win a game in which the offense is nonexistant. While it worked in 2012, the same close games swung the opposite way in 2013 and resulted in a 4-8 record despite having the 15th best scoring defense in the country.

When you examine Muschamp’s time a Texas, it’s no wonder why the Longhorns made a run at the national title during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. An elite, Muschamp-led defense was paired with one of the best offenses in the land under quarterback Colt McCoy. The 2009 campaign ended with the crushing loss to Alabama in the 2010 BCS Championship Game.

Auburn fans get goosebumps considering the special pairing of Muschamp’s defense with Gus Malzahn’s offense. After all, when you combine top scoring offenses with top scoring defenses, double digit wins should be the floor in terms of expectations for the season. Malzahn has booked the 13th best scoring offense in 2013 and the 27th best scoring offense in 2014.

The stage is set for a nice run for Auburn, and if the Tigers played in another conference, I’d probably go ahead and pencil them in now for the College Football Playoff. But, with teams like Alabama, LSU and Texas A&M going all-in on upgrading each side of the ball and teams like Arkansas, Ole Miss and Mississippi State investing heavily to be competitive, the west is anyone’s guess.

Still, I like Auburn’s chances.