It’s a common theme in football, games are won and lost in the trenches. On Thursday we examined the offensive side of that equation, delving into the numbers to find the best offensive lines in the SEC heading into the 2017 season.

Today we look at the other side of the coin. If defenses do indeed win championships, it starts with the defensive line. Based on projected starting defensive lines at ourlads.com for each team in the SEC, we rank them based on their recruiting score as determined by 247sports.com.

With scores averaged out it comes as no surprise that Alabama leads the way. Built on Nick Saban’s defense, the Tide has rolled year in and year out with the league’s best defense for the better part of a decade. In fact, much of the SEC West dominates in this category, with four of the top five projected starting defensive lines coming from that division. SEC East contender Georgia is the outlier.

Conversely, the bottom three defensive lines in this study reside in the East. Defensive-minded Will Muschamp looks to have his hands full in making something out of the South Carolina D-line, while Kentucky and Missouri — at least on paper — have some catching up to do as well.

Here are the teams in order, with projected starters and recruiting grades.

1. Alabama 0.9820: DE Da’Shawn Hand 0.9978, NG Daron Payne 0.9871, DE Josh Frazier 0.9610

2. Georgia 0.9488: DE Trenton Thompson 0.9991, NT John Atkins 0.8804, DE Jonathan Ledbetter 0.9670

3. LSU 0.9391: DE Christian LaCouture 0.9004, NT Greg Gilmore 0.9580, DE Frank Herron 0.9589

4. Auburn 0.9301: DE Marlon Davidson 0.9762, DT Dontavious Russell 0.9311, DT Andrew Williams 0.9076, DE Paul James III 0.8954

5. Arkansas 0.9178: DE McTelvin Agim 0.9868, DT Austin Capps 0.9133, DE Armon Watts 0.8534

6. Florida 0.9109: DE Jabari Zuniga 0.8604, DT Khairi Clark 0.9226, DT Taven Bryan 0.8656, DE Cece Jefferson 0.9951

7. Texas A&M 0.9017: DE Qualen Cunningham 0.9289, DT Zaycoven Henderson 0.9118, DT Kingsley Keke 0.8746, DE Jarrett Johnson 0.8916

8. Vanderbilt 0.8884: DE Jonathan Wynn 0.8609, NT Nifae Lealoa 0.9501, DE Dare Odeyingbo 0.8543

9. Tennessee 0.8861: DE Darrell Taylor 0.9004, DT Kendal Vickers 0.7995, DT Kahlil McKenzie NA, DE Jonathan Kongbo 0.9584

10. Ole Miss 0.8828: DE Marquis Haynes 0.8800, DT Benito Jones 0.9842, DT Breeland Speaks 0.9194, DE Victor Evans 0.8478

11. Mississippi State 0.8825: DE Cory Thomas 0.8630, NT Braxton Hoyett 0.7984, DE Jeffery Simmons 0.9862

12. South Carolina 0.8578: DE Dante Sawyer 0.8959, DT Ulric Jones 0.8485, DT Taylor Stallworth 0.8546, DE D.J. Wonnum 0.8325

13. Kentucky 0.8571: DE T.J. Carter 0.8150, DT Naquez Pringle 0.8056, DT Adrian Middleton 0.8635, DE Denzil Ware 0.9443

14. Missouri 0.8516: DE Marcell Frazier 0.7333, DT Terry Beckner, Jr. 0.9918, DT A.J. Logan 0.8209, DE Nate Howard 0.8603