It’s hard to say when exactly Alabama’s defense peaked in the Nick Saban era. Really, it’s all subjective while the 2016 to 2017 range would be a second plateau after the 2011 centerpiece.

Easier would be to spot the valleys.

Those years of adapting to the hurry-up offenses were relatively lean. The last few seasons drew perhaps the most vitriol as P-E-T-E became a four-letter word in Tuscaloosa. Now, Mr. Golding has the defensive coordinator gig at Ole Miss and, coincidence or not, the 2023 Crimson Tide defense appears to be rebounding from a rough patch.

And while much of the attention is narrowly focused on Alabama’s offensive adventures, it’s worth looking at what’s going on defensively. Without this renaissance, the conversation would be quite different.

This is a team that’s Alabama’s scoring 28.5 points a game against Power 5 competition — down a full 10 from last year and sitting at its lowest level since 2009.

Defensively, Power 5 opponents are scoring its fewest points since 2019 and the numbers go on from there.

But to address the rise, you must consider the low point.

Yes, Texas.

A lack of pressure in the pocket opened the downfield passing game that contributed to a 21-point Longhorn fourth quarter. Then, in the closing moments, Texas ran it down their throat to end the night on a 7-plus minute drive and a few kneel downs.

A 34-24 final had all the feel of the era Alabama thought it outsourced to Oxford.

Since then, however, something licked.

Excluding that Texas game, Alabama’s owned second halves. It has allowed only three fourth-quarter points in the other five games while holding a 59-17 third-quarter scoring edge.

A few advanced analytics, if you will …

— Alabama is No. 1 in the FEI defensive rankings on BCFtoys.com. That, according to the site, is “opponent-adjusted data representing the scoring advantage per opponent drive a defense would be expected to have on a neutral field against an average offense, calculated from the results of non-garbage, regulation drives in FBS vs. FBS games.”

— While ranked in the top 25 of most major defensive statistical measures, the fellas at collegefootballnerds.com took the calculations a step further and factored in the performances relative to the quality of opponents. That pushed the Tide up to No. 5 in points allowed per game, No. 2 in total yards allowed, No. 4 in passing yards per game and No. 3 in passing yards per attempt. You can see the full breakdown on their site.

— The 3.67 sacks per game has Alabama No. 6 nationally and an improvement over the 2.92 season-long total from last year. Since leaving Quinn Ewers’ road white jersey nearly pristine in Week 2, you’ve seen a different level of play from the front seven.

And that’s where the numbers only tell part of the story.

You see a little more juice from a group that, outside of Will Anderson in recent years, hasn’t had that same level of physical dominance. The interior defensive linemen haven’t had a real bell cow since Quinnen Williams’s sudden rise and quick exit for the NFL.

That’s what made the fourth quarter at Texas A&M so notable as Justin Eboigbe, Tim Keenan and Jaheim Oatis frankly bullied the Aggies in the final 15 minutes. Where Texas snatched some pride from a program whose offseason conditioning program is famously named the Fourth Quarter, this front seven clawed some of it back.

In losing 26-20, the Aggies’ 306 total yards were well off its 402.5-yard average and fell nearly 100 below its previous season low of 402 in a win over Auburn.

Those gaps were even more notable two weeks earlier against Ole Miss.

Lane Kiffin’s crew managed just 301 yards (4.63 per play) in a 24-10 loss — the program’s fewest since managing just 291 in a 2021 loss at Alabama. In context for the season, Ole Miss is averaging 527.0 yards in the other five games.

And a week after sputtering in Bryant-Denny, this offense dropped 706 yards (8.02 per play) on LSU in a 55-49 offensive temper tantrum.

In the span of a week, Ole Miss went from scoring one touchdown in Tuscaloosa to hanging the most yardage LSU’s ever allowed in a shootout win.

Since the Texas loss, Mississippi State was the only Tide opponent outside the top 50 nationally in total offense so the competition level has been at least better than average.

Something internally seems to have clicked since the Longhorn embarrassment.

“We looked at that game as a lesson,” Eboigbe said Monday. “Hopefully (there are) no more lessons to be learned this season, but just take away the positives. Each and every week, we’re just looking at getting better, and become a more dominant defense.”

Still outside the conversation for a seat at the head table of Saban defenses, this group has the potential to join the chat partially because of the stakes.

Alabama needs this defense more than in recent years.

They can’t afford to get into a game like LSU and Ole Miss played because they simply don’t have the offense to keep pace, at least not for a full 60 minutes. These are indeed not the Tua years and that would be a real problem if this defense didn’t get some cold water splashed on their collective faces Sept. 9.

Sustaining this grind through the end of November is the challenge that’ll decide this group’s legacy.

And it will decide just how important December and January will be for a team that felt as far from that discussion before the defense found its groove.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.