BRISTOL, Conn. -- Is the SEC in a defensive down cycle?

One ACC coach seems to think so. (No, it wasn’t Florida State's Jimbo Fisher.)

The coach contended that, as of right now, better defense is being played in the ACC. And he might have a point, at least if you consider that more than half of the SEC's teams will have a new defensive coordinator in 2015.

The most notable of those eight new DCs can be found at Auburn and Texas A&M, and the numbers make it pretty easy to see why changes were made at both schools. In 2014, both were 8-5 teams largely limited by defenses ranked in the bottom third of the conference in most yardage and scoring efficiency metrics.

To correct that, Will Muschamp was lured back to Auburn, and Texas A&M plucked John Chavis from rival LSU -- hires that were lauded as being bigger and potentially more meaningful than even some head-coaching jobs around the country.

Auburn has been projected to win the league, in large part because of faith in Muschamp’s ability as a coordinator. In College Station, A&M is a bit more under the radar, but there’s similar hope for Chavis turning around a woeful unit.

Here’s what Muschamp and Chavis will bring to their respective programs, and why they just might be the saviors they’re being touted as.