So the actual question we should ask is not "Who's better" but rather "Who sucks more".

If you throw out the 2 nd half of UF when the game wasn't in doubt those numbers are even better

The defense has played moderately well, allowing just 18.25 points per game. Hopefully, we can have more sacks, tackles for losses, and takeaways.

PyriteAg said:

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It's much better for the team to lick their wounds and get their stuff together

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Definitely better than licking their stuff and getting their wounds together.




Or is it???

Posted on another thread…The D we played in the bowl game would struggle to win one SEC game. Elko raided the portal and got us competitive.

Sq 17 said:

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If you throw out the 2 nd half of UF when the game wasn't in doubt those numbers are even better

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It seems like we're always having to do that to make things seem better. I'd like to see consistency and a cut throat approach that keeps a foot on the pedal all the way through.

Back up needs snaps
Not showing everything in your playbook is also a consideration
Offense needs to stay aggressive because the starters need to be better

I am not one to cherry pick stats
But points first downs etc when the game is out of reach need to be considered

Late in the 1st half Iirc UF had zero yards total offense

What's all the fuss? I'm pleasantly surprised by our defense this year. Far from elite but they've brought it every game so far.

What's not showing up in the stats is how often our guys are getting pressure to the QB.

Bryant03 said:

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What's all the fuss? I'm pleasantly surprised by our defense this year. Far from elite but they've brought it every game so far.

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I think it's because they get gashed by big plays at inopportune times. So they can dominate on 90% of snaps but man that 10% is hard to overlook and leaves me feeling this defense is nowhere near elite like we were led to believe.

Definitely Not a Troll said:

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Bryant03 said:

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What's all the fuss? I'm pleasantly surprised by our defense this year. Far from elite but they've brought it every game so far.

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I think it's because they get gashed by big plays at inopportune times. So they can dominate on 90% of snaps but man that 10% is hard to overlook and leaves me feeling this defense is nowhere near elite like we were led to believe.

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I like your take but I wasn't led to believe we had an elite defense. DL maybe. Linebackers were praised. But DBs??? Whoever got led to believe our defense was "elite" is well…..not watching the same Aggie football I have the last 40plus years.

I think it's just the opposite. We played young guys in the 2nd half vs Florida and we let them run up
A lot of yards and score some points but we got kids some real game experience. It didn't make things look as good as maybe they really are. We shut them down in the first half. Did same vs McNeese.

Definitely Not a Troll said:

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Bryant03 said:

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What's all the fuss? I'm pleasantly surprised by our defense this year. Far from elite but they've brought it every game so far.

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I think it's because they get gashed by big plays at inopportune times. So they can dominate on 90% of snaps but man that 10% is hard to overlook and leaves me feeling this defense is nowhere near elite like we were led to believe.

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that's a combination of some youth, some new guys, and all new systems.
Elko's setup fits different than Durkin's, so in some ways you're reprogramming some of the experienced guys.

we're only 4 games into playing with live ammo, against teams that aren't ourselves in scrimmages.
I think they'll shore things up in due time.

Too sane…this is the ZOO sir…

I used to play all the mental gymnastics when games against lesser opponents were too close for comfort.

"We're not showing our whole playbook"
"We've got the backups in"
"We let off the gas when the game was out of reach"

Then I started to notice a couple of things:

1. The performance didn't get much better when we played quality competition and those factors above became non-factors

2. I never saw the elite teams (Bama, GA, etc) have close games against lesser opponents.

They had games that got out of hand. They held back plays. They played their backups. They didn't let off the gas, it didn't seem.

Fact is, the elite programs - that is, the programs that will compete for championships every year - dominate when they can dominate.

I love Aggie football. I want so bad to get to elite, championship level. But trust what you see. When you have to caveat every game ("leave out that second half when we put in the backups and took our foot off the gas and ran a vanilla scheme…") you're not at that top level.

Maybe we'll catch lightning in a bottle and go on a magical run…but I would bet the bank on it.

Edit to add: this is a holistic idea, looking at performance over the course of time. Yes, Bama has played some close games against lesser opponents. But look at their track record over the last ten years…that's the exception, not the rule. A&M, on the other hand, has consistently had these games like we had against BG. I can name at least one every year going back to 2013, I think.

2. I never saw the elite teams (Bama, GA, etc) have close games against lesser opponents.

Then you don't watch football

Georgia vs Kentucky 13-12

Bama vs South Florida at the end of the third it was 14-13

Quote:

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Edit to add: this is a holistic idea, looking at performance over the course of time. Yes, Bama has played some close games against lesser opponents. But look at their track record over the last ten years…that's the exception, not the rule. A&M, on the other hand, has consistently had these games like we had against BG. I can name at least one every year going back to 2013, I think.

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This was a quick google, so didn't spend too much time, but...

Since 2014, Alabama has had exactly 1 game against a non-power 5 opponent in which the margin of victory was less than 30 points...2023 South Florida.

A&M, on the other hand, has had:
2024: BG - W 26-20
2022: App St - L 14-17
2017: Nichols St - W 24-14
2016: UTSA - W 23-10
2015: Nevada - W 44-27 (17pt diff)
2014: UL Monroe - W 21-16

I held this to non-P5, so it doesn't include games like 2021's 10-7 win against an abysmal Colorado team, or absolute blow-outs like 2023's 51-10 loss to MsSt, 2020's 52-24 loss to Bama, 2019's 50-7 loss to LSU.

I'm not trying to throw shade on the Ags...my point is that when we're having to come up with excuses for why we were favored by 20+ and only won by 6, it's a sign that the we have an average team. Great teams don't (outside of the exception) experience that.

what's crazy to me is that we are very very good at 3rd down, but I'd bet that we're among the worst at 4th down defense.

This is true. We are 112th in nation at defending 4th down conversions so far this yr.

Wolfpac 08 said:

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This was a quick google, so didn't spend too much time, but...

Since 2014, Alabama has had exactly 1 game against a non-power 5 opponent in which the margin of victory was less than 30 points...2023 South Florida.

A&M, on the other hand, has had:
2024: BG - W 26-20
2022: App St - L 14-17
2017: Nichols St - W 24-14
2016: UTSA - W 23-10
2015: Nevada - W 44-27 (17pt diff)
2014: UL Monroe - W 21-16

I held this to non-P5, so it doesn't include games like 2021's 10-7 win against an abysmal Colorado team, or absolute blow-outs like 2023's 51-10 loss to MsSt, 2020's 52-24 loss to Bama, 2019's 50-7 loss to LSU.

I'm not trying to throw shade on the Ags...my point is that when we're having to come up with excuses for why we were favored by 20+ and only won by 6, it's a sign that the we have an average team. Great teams don't (outside of the exception) experience that.

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New coaches
New system

Even Saban went 7-6 at Bama.

That puts us 20th in the nation in 3rd down conversion defense and 6th in the SEC.

A bit too early on most of these stats as many teams haven't really played anyone yet.

Notre Dame - one of our opponents so far this year - is 10th in the nation.

Yes, he lost 6 games his first year...and then lost 23 games total over the next 16 seasons. Those 6 losses were 22% of his total losses as coach at Bama. He went 12-1 in year 2 and never lost more than 3 games in a season (and only lost 3 games once - 2010). He only lost 18 total SEC games in 17 seasons (4 of them coming in year 1).

Hopefully Elko can do the same

As for the new coaches...I mean...Saban had 10 different OCs and 8 different DCs in his 17 seasons at Bama...so new coaches were something they dealt with regularly with little to no impact.

All of this is beside the point, though. My point is that when you're trying to determine what kind of season a team is going to have, you can typically look at the games played and trust what you see. If you see a team playing close games against teams they should be easily handling, and having trouble closing out games (ie Florida, BG, etc.) - and this is a pattern you've seen consistently over multiple seasons, and not just one-off anomalies - you're probably up for a middle of the road season..

Unfortunately, 20/49 on the other side on 3rd downs.

Opponents are 6/8 in 4th down btw. Good for 112th in the country.

2nd and long has been a problem after good play on 1st down by the defense. Elko has to get that figured out and get Bateman coached up.

Overall the D vs. BGSU was good, total bust on the TE TD play and the reverse TD, and blocked punt. Those must be corrected, no excuse, failure on our part.

But I would rather have a bust and give up a long play than give up 7-12 yard runs and passed over and over and over and over. Other teams will make plays. The bones and basics of the Elko defense are there and they are playing better, especially at DB....

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All of this is beside the point, though. My point is that when you're trying to determine what kind of season a team is going to have, you can typically look at the games played and trust what you see. If you see a team playing close games against teams they should be easily handling, and having trouble closing out games (ie Florida, BG, etc.) - and this is a pattern you've seen consistently over multiple seasons, and not just one-off anomalies - you're probably up for a middle of the road season..

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I'd agree with that if it was the the sane coaching staff, but it's not

Elko is here to change the culture and improve upon that

It does t look great now but things can change over the course of the season as he continues to instill his culture in the team

Elko explained it pretty good in the last press conference.
It's not that we are playing bad, we just are not consistent.
Mental screw ups are costing us a few big plays a game.

greg.w.h said:

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Too sane…this is the ZOO sir…

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my bad, thought it was a Wendys....