Texas A&M linebacker Noah Mikhail didn’t need to spend much time searching for an explanation for the Aggies’ defensive struggles over the last two weeks.

In his mind, many of their problems start from within.

"The most frustrating thing is we're beating ourselves," Mikhail said. "We're making self-inflicted errors, self-inflicted mistakes. We're getting them behind the sticks on first and second down and then third down, big play. Boom. So we've just got to fix those self-inflicted errors and I think that will clean up a lot of mistakes we're having."

After entering the season with expectations of once again being one of Texas A&M’s strengths, the defense has struggled over the last two games in the losses to Kentucky and LSU. There are many reasons for the lack of success, but Mikhail singled out execution and communication as two areas that have to improve before the Aggies return to the field against Arkansas on Saturday.

Texas A&M’s Defense Has to Get on the Same Page

Communication has been a recurring issue for Texas A&M, and Mikhail believes some of that comes from the number of new players learning to play alongside one another for the first time.

"It's a lot of new guys out there," Mikhail said. "So, I think it's just getting comfortable communicating with each other and making sure everybody knows that, OK, I can trust my teammate to do what he needs to do and I could communicate with him."

Mikhail also pointed toward a lack of focus when asked about the eye-discipline issues head coach Mike Elko has mentioned.

"It's just a lack of focus, honestly," Mikhail said. "That's what it comes down to, and it comes down to trusting that you don't have to do more than your job. You just got to do your job."

That has left the Aggies searching for ways to clean up problems that Mikhail doesn’t believe require significant schematic changes.

The Aggies Aren’t Looking for a Complete Overhaul

Texas A&M's pass rush has also struggled to make the same impact over the last two games, but Mikhail doesn't believe the answer is completely changing what the Aggies are doing defensively.

"I don't think we need to, you know, from a standpoint of scheme stuff change too much," Mikhail said. "I think they're going to get it down this week."

Instead, Mikhail continually came back to execution, communication and playing together as a unit.

"I think the message right now is, obviously staying together, but just really getting better," Mikhail said. "Executing better, playing better as a team, as one unit. I think especially defensively, it's execution. We need to execute better. We need to play more together and honestly communicate more...everything. We just need to fix it."

For a Texas A&M defense looking for answers, Mikhail believes many of them start internally. In many ways, that’s encouraging, as the problems have been identified and are theoretically correctable. On the other hand, however, those issues might not be temporary, which would be less than stellar news for the Aggies moving forward. Either way, a bounce-back effort against Arkansas is needed on Saturday.