Don’t you just hate it when the achievements of a potentially excellent defense get overshadowed by the struggles of their offense?

No, we’re not referring to Iowa. Let’s talk about Texas A&M to lead off this week’s stop rate update.

What is stop rate? It’s a basic measurement of success: the percentage of a defense’s drives that end in punts, turnovers or a turnover on downs. This simple metric can offer a more accurate reflection of a defense’s effectiveness in today’s faster-tempo college football than yards per game or points per game. We’re now in Year 7 of tracking this statistic (here are the final standings for 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017) along with every defense’s points per drive average.

Penn State has moved back into the No. 1 spot in the stop rate standings following a 63-0 win over UMass. That dominant performance raised the Nittany Lions’ stop rate to 88 percent heading into their monumental matchup with Ohio State, another team featuring a top-five defense by this standard.

Texas A&M does not have a top-five defense in stop rate. The Aggies are currently No. 23 in these standings heading into their idle week after back-to-back close losses to Alabama and Tennessee dropped them to 4-3 on the year. If you’ve been watching them, you can tell this defense hasn’t been the problem.

In Week 2, Texas A&M’s defense clearly struggled to get stops on the road at Miami in a 48-33 loss. That was a rough afternoon. But take a closer look at how they’ve performed after that Sept. 9 loss. In the five games since, the Aggies are getting stops on 76.8 percent of their drives, which would rank No. 12 in FBS. More impressive is the fact they’ve held these opponents to a mere 1.04 points per drive. That’s fifth-best nationally.

Everybody knows this is an extremely talented group. Texas A&M used 21 players on defense during its game against Tennessee, according to Pro Football Focus. Five were former five-stars, and 11 were top-100 recruits. It’s not just the defensive line loaded with blue-chip prospects. Linebacker Edgerrin Cooper has been putting together an All-America caliber season so far, and true freshman Taurean York has been a revelation next to him. This crew is No. 1 nationally in tackles for loss (65) and more than capable of finishing with a top-10 run defense (3.04 yards per carry).

But they sure could use a little more help. Jimbo Fisher and his offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino have a lot to address during this week off. The Aggies’ offensive issues in the second half of games are getting out of hand. Texas A&M leads all FBS teams in second-half turnovers (10) and has scored touchdowns on just three of its 28 second-half drives in SEC play. But wait, it gets worse. Three other second-half drives ended in touchdowns for the other team: a fumble returned for a TD by Auburn, a pick six by Arkansas and a punt return score by Tennessee.

It’s fair to say the loss of quarterback Conner Weigman to a season-ending foot injury put the Aggies’ offense in a tough spot. It’s also fair to say the Alabama and Tennessee games were quite winnable. This final five-game stretch includes November meetings with LSU and Ole Miss, the two highest-scoring offenses in the conference, and several more tests that increasingly feel like must-wins for Fisher and the trajectory of the program.

The good news is Texas A&M’s defense keeps giving this group a chance to overcome its mistakes and survive tough SEC fights. They’re going to need to keep doing so every week.

How are the rest of the defenses across the country performing in stop rate? Here are the full FBS-only stop rate standings entering Week 8.

Note: All data is courtesy of TruMedia and Pro Football Focus.

(Photo: Ken Murray / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)