Analyzed comp - how to proceed after panda 3.3

Well I lost a few rankings presumably due to the latest algo update.

I'm assuming it is not a penalty because I only lost a few spots and sometimes a whole page. This is on a handful of keywords.

After analyzing my competition that took over my spots, the only difference I see is that my I may have built too many links to same exact keyword. Although I was mindful to be careful of this, it seems I didnt pay close enough attention because I was ranking where I wanted.

My comp also have random spam .edus links that I dont have. 1 competitor has a pr 6 link coming from a bmr site. It has rolled off but majestic still shows it as pr 6 link.

I have triple the backlinks my competitor has. I also pay for premium articles with specific directions so I will assume my content is good. One other thing to note is that 2 of the sites are ranking for home page with excerpts and links to other articles. This may give them higher time on site. My site has an informative article on home page. 800 words or so. Quality info with lsi and 1-2 keyword density.

I'm guessing that my anchor text density is the problem. What do you think?

My competition is using similar methods for backlinks and even attaining spammy edu links that I try to stay away from.

How should I proceed? Use bmr so I have better control of how many links and what anchor text is used to try to fix the density problem?

Did I miss anything else that may be the problem?

btw I'm ruling out any domain name benefits, quality content issues and size of sites because we are all similar in those areas.