Should Texas A&M football fans be worried with Mike Elko's rush defense?
One of the things most fans were sure of when Mike Elko became the head man at Texas A&M football was that the Aggies would boast a solid rush defense. Since Elko became the defensive coordinator back in 2018, rarely have the Aggies had a subpar unit in that regard (with 2022 being the glaring exception).
Through two games, however, the raw numbers for the Ags on that front are not exactly looking encouraging.
A small sample size so far, but Texas A&M has undoubtedly struggled vs. the run. The Aggies have surrendered 189 rushing yards per game, which ranks 109th nationally. Also has only one sack in two games this season.
— Carter Karels (@CarterKarels) September 8, 2024
189 yards per game is way too much for any team that claims to have an elite rush defense. That said, do these numbers really reflect reality?
There have no doubt been play-level concerns with the Aggie rushing D. Some missed fits on the back end have led to explosive runs in both games, including both scores for Notre Dame in game one.
But down in and down out, it's been pretty hard for teams to find rushing success against these Aggies, especially between the tackles. Success Rate is a metric that measures how consistently a team is able to get the yards required to keep a drive alive. Against Notre Dame, and McNeese, the Aggies allowed a 29% success rate and 32% success rate, respectively. For context, Texas allowed 38% rushing success against Colorado State, as did UGA against Clemson.
Really, the biggest issue for this Aggie team seems to be a fixable one: every now and then, the second-level defenders take a bad angle and/or the end plays too far inside, allowing backs to get the edge. Nearly every big run from McNeese was in this mold; while Notre Dame had a few go for big gains between the tackles, that was partially due to the defensive backs being out of position.
This is a facet that will be tested this weekend, so it had better be a big area of focus for Elko and Bateman. Playing consistently and with your head on straight is what matters with run defense, and the Ags need to improve on that front.
The ability of the Aggies to stonewall opposing OLs, though, is just like we all hoped it would be. Though, as Carter Karels noted above, the Aggies have not recorded many sacks this year, they have notched quite a few tackles for loss. Increased discipline on the edge of the defensive line will go a long way here in fixing these issues and shutting down these explosive runs.