We had ND in third and long situations multiple times. They converted almost all of them.

It seemed we were in a zone defense everytime and their freshman QB found the gaps.

What do we change to flip this script? Score would have been much different had we held them a few times.

Get 9 yards on 1st down!

It is the most maddening part of our team right now. Makes me absolutely nuts.

It's wild to watch our D line be so effective 2 out of 3 times.

Pay for a new secondary. Ours REALLY stinks. In fact, I can't think of a single season since the Kiel/Sammy Davis years when we've had even a decent secondary.

Ian Neff said:

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It is the most maddening part of our team right now. Makes me absolutely nuts.

It's wild to watch our D line be so effective 2 out of 3 times.

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Super frustrating! We joke all of the time that when we have our opponent held to 3rd and 10+ yards then they have us right where they want us. That being said, I notice many other teams have that same problem.

We give up 3rd and long to the opponent much to often.
Has been the case for years.

3rd and Elko.

Need pressure on qb

It's bad enough when they convert with a pass but it drives me nuts when they convert with a 15 yard run. I've never seen A&M run good zone coverages. Seems like everyone gets into their zone and stands there like a statue until the ball is thrown.

Pressure

Pressure

An L of an Ag said:

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3rd and Elko.

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3rd and Chavis
3rd and _urkin
3rd and Elko ... again

It's Tradition!

3rd & Fran
3rd & Sherman
3rd & Sumlin
3rd & Fischer

how to fix 3rd & long?

throw deep to K.C. and Craver on the next possession

Stop celebrating on 2nd down

Juan Lee Pettimore said:

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Pay for a new secondary. Ours REALLY stinks. In fact, I can't think of a single season since the Kiel/Sammy Davis years when we've had even a decent secondary.

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We've had some decent secondaries over the last 10 years, when you consider how good modern offenses are now. The 2021 defense and secondary(with Antonio Johnson) were pretty good. People forget how bad A&M's secondaries were in the 2000's and in 2013. Atrocious doesn't even begin to describe how bad they were.

I believe we have returned to those days. Way to many receivers running free behind our DBs.

Allowing 3rd and long conversions too often is the most frustrating part of our defense. We need the pash rush to get home to reduce the amount of time our secondary needs to cover opposing receivers. Otherwise, the opposing quarterback will have time to find open receivers after they break away from our secondary.

TX_Aggie37 said:

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Pressure

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This. I believe every time Carr had at least 5 seconds to throw he was nearly 100% completion

We had a secondary a couple of years ago with Jaylon Jones, Antonio Johnson, and Chappell that was pretty good. We just had no consistent offense.

we still do not fully understand proper spacing while in zone coverage. we need to apply more pressure. we are terrible when we blitz no one and drop 8. it's a guanteed first down if the can play catch.

Believe it or not, I'm not really sure we have an out of the ordinary "third and long oroblem"! eapecially given it was a good opponent on the road.

Notre Dame converted from 3rd and 9, 13, 7, and 7.
we stopped them from 10, 7, 5, 20, and 11.

In 3rd and short, they comverted from 1, 3 , 4, and 4
We held them from 1, 4, 3, and 3

overall, we held them on 9 of 17.

Their longest 3rd down conversions were from 9 yds and 13yds.

but it sure FELT worse- I'll grant you that.

Surprised and pleased that we held them 4 of 8 times it was 3rd and 4 or less.

3rd and Aggie.

Might as well blitz them if they're otherwise just going to stand there and watch the catch be made.

Thanks for the data
It would be nice to have a wrecking Crew Defense again
Our defense is not there yet The Ags are 3-0 and got a huge road win. If the Ag defense had put up
Those numbers at Kyle I'd be less optimistic, That is a respectable showing in the road against a good team.

Glad Jimbo is gone , just too bad we are having to pay him a small fortune. A couple million could probably get us some help in the secondary

See if anyone get's the reference.


We go that way really really fast, and if something gets in our way. Turn.

Divining Rod said:

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Believe it or not, I'm not really sure we have an out of the ordinary "third and long oroblem"! eapecially given it was a good opponent on the road.

Notre Dame converted from 3rd and 9, 13, 7, and 7.
we stopped them from 10, 7, 5, 20, and 11.

In 3rd and short, they comverted from 1, 3 , 4, and 4
We held them from 1, 4, 3, and 3

overall, we held them on 9 of 17.

Their longest 3rd down conversions were from 9 yds and 13yds.

but it sure FELT worse- I'll grant you that.

Surprised and pleased that we held them 4 of 8 times it was 3rd and 4 or less.

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It's magnified because we watch our team the closest and are emotionally invested. We are T38 in defensive 3rd down conversion % allowing 14 conversions on 44 attempts (31.8%).

OU is first with 10/56.

Minnesota is 20 at 9/34, and Pitt is 21 at 13/49.

3rd down hasn't been great, but it's not a disaster. My biggest pain point is allowing 10+ yard runs on 3rd to convert. I understand how it can happen with the mug looks Elko likes to show on 3rd down, but simply can't have it.

Those that say pressure are correct BUT it has to be controlled pressure in that you can't lose containment of the QB. A lot of the SEC teams have QB's that can burn you with their legs including the one coming to Kyle on Saturday.

Sacks are great but getting them to panic and make poor decisions is perhaps even more valuable .

I think the frustration was magnified by one of the scrub games when we gave up 3rd and 10+ a few times via the run. That was just totally unacceptable.

Divining Rod said:

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Believe it or not, I'm not really sure we have an out of the ordinary "third and long oroblem"! eapecially given it was a good opponent on the road.

Notre Dame converted from 3rd and 9, 13, 7, and 7.
we stopped them from 10, 7, 5, 20, and 11.

In 3rd and short, they comverted from 1, 3 , 4, and 4
We held them from 1, 4, 3, and 3

overall, we held them on 9 of 17.

Their longest 3rd down conversions were from 9 yds and 13yds.

but it sure FELT worse- I'll grant you that.

Surprised and pleased that we held them 4 of 8 times it was 3rd and 4 or less.

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Wow this is an eye opener. Great post. Thank you

Welcome- thanks for the kudos!

Divining Rod said:

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Believe it or not, I'm not really sure we have an out of the ordinary "third and long problem"! especially given it was a good opponent on the road.

Notre Dame converted from 3rd and 9, 13, 7, and 7.
we stopped them from 10, 7, 5, 20, and 11.

In 3rd and short, they converted from 1, 3 , 4, and 4
We held them from 1, 4, 3, and 3

overall, we held them on 9 of 17.

Their longest 3rd down conversions were from 9 yds and 13yds.

but it sure FELT worse- I'll grant you that.

Surprised and pleased that we held them 4 of 8 times it was 3rd and 4 or less.

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The unfounded dramatics on here are pretty ridiculous. Let's look at this a little more in depth based on actual stats.

https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/opponent-third-down-conversion-pct

We're top 30 in College FB Team Opponent Third Down Conversion Percentage.

It's not exactly surprising we did worse than our average against a likely playoff team on the road who is a top 20 scoring offense and top 30ish total offense in our first true test of the season.

Emilio Fantastico said:

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I think the frustration was magnified by one of the scrub games when we gave up 3rd and 10+ a few times via the run. That was just totally unacceptable.

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That tends to happen when fans don't understand this isn't 1992, the game has changed drastically, and have little understanding of how their own team compares to the rest of the country.

Just bringing this gem of football knowledge back to the top.

3rd and Elko is currently top 10 in defense 3rd Down Conversion Percentage.

Juan Lee Pettimore said:

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Pay for a new secondary. Ours REALLY stinks. In fact, I can't think of a single season since the Kiel/Sammy Davis years when we've had even a decent secondary.

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This one might take the cake.

I have a feeling Coleman and Singleton don't agree.

halfastros81 said:

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Those that say pressure are correct BUT it has to be controlled pressure in that you can't lose containment of the QB. A lot of the SEC teams have QB's that can burn you with their legs including the one coming to Kyle on Saturday.

Sacks are great but getting them to panic and make poor decisions is perhaps even more valuable .

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Sellers ate our lunch last year because we played out of control and didn't appreciate how hard he was to trap and take down. Hopefully we've learned.