easy q - conditional formatting

I am trying to use conditional formatting within a column, filling the cells in with bright red IF the date is less than "today" and the cell is not blank.

I understand =today() and <>"" but for whatever reason this is giving me problems.. dates that are not supposed to be in the range are highlighted.. or only blank dates are highlighted.. etc.

I originally wanted to use this within a filtered range but reverted back to non filtered just to figure it out. i know its something simple. Please help haha

Yeah, that was the first one I used - but it skips over dates, highlights random blank cells and highlights days next month too..

I formatted to left indent, bottom and also date XX/XX/XXXX but no dice. I dont get it.

So i just realized something. It looks like the rule is highlighting 1 cell ABOVE the match its looking for, so it looks like it is mismatching. (I had selected the column prior to using conditional formatting.. ) I think I can figure it out from here though - but hey, something to look out for I suppose! haha, thank you for your help

Actually no - still not sure why it is highlighting the cell above the one it should..

appreciate the tips, I figured it out, will mark as solved. Thanks again.