Worm castings. Unsightly yes but they are good sign.

 

If too many earthworms, you can spray imidacloprid to control it.

 

Looks like some scalping, and the grass is just slowing down from the lack of sun. Perhaps a chance of fungus from being so moist.

The sponge feeling is just the absolute saturated ground from a week of heavy rain and no sun.

 

Do a soap test for mole crickets. They will tunnel under the turf similar to tiny little moles (hence the name). Here is a photo of one from @rjw0283's journal.



I know you mentioned it in your post but you are definitely too high. I wouldn't do anything about it now but in the spring you are going to want to scalp and bag at your lowest possible mower setting and then try to maintain at the second lowest. If you are unable to keep up with the mowing, you could always try PGR. At rotary heights, using PGR you can typically get away with once a week mowing as long as you aren't going nuts with the fertilizer.

 

@Redtwin, I have been reading about mole crickets… I had no idea this was a thing….

Everything I have read about them matches what i am seeing!!! I will do the soap test first thing tomorrow morning and post the results.

If mole crickets are to blame, I may have a pretty bad infestation (it is almost the entire front yard). I think my high HOC delayed this problem being noticeable…

I definitely plan to scalp and level and maybe try a manual reel mower next year to drive a lower HOC. If I have mole crickets, I guess I can add getting rid of them to the list…

Thanks to all for the tips! I have been googling for a couple weeks and haven't been able to figure this out!

 

So, I tested 4 different areas with lemon scented dish soap… The only critters that surfaced were spiders…

I am not sure what to make of this.

Maybe I tested the wrong spots or maybe they were to deep to surface this time of year. Or…. maybe I just have "leggy" bermuda on top of moist soil…

I guess I will just wait and observe and see what happens.

 

If they were there I think they would crawl out. It could just be the wet soil along with the earthworms as @FATC1TY mentioned earlier. I would just make plans for a scalp and shorter HOC next season. Overall it doesn't look too bad and I wouldn't recommend doing anything extreme this late in the season (even though I did :grimacing.

 

Concur with @Redtwin just leave it be. Yard doesn't look bad at all. Yes it's probably a little high and the bermuda gets leggy, especially this time of year.

The amount of rain we've all had in the south has just been insane, so don't discount the water just sitting in the soil for a while.

Keep up with the pests and fungus preventative, and evaluate after it all comes back in the spring.

 

appreciate the input, thanks guys!