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Wasson: Mike Elko is pitch-perfect as Texas A&M is on the brink of Atlanta
By David Wasson
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We said, right here in this very space last week, that Texas A&M fans needed to practice a smidge of patience.
You can read it right here, in fact. This scribe opined that “yes, you’re rooting on the 14th-ranked team in the country right now. But every goal is still very much in reach for Texas A&M should they keep doing what they’re doing right now. Winning by survival is a part of the deal in this conference, after all.”
And what happened? You know the answer …
Beating then-No. 8-ranked LSU on Saturday night was exactly the kind of mid-season litmus test that was previously lacking from the Aggies’ schedule to date. And the manner in which Texas A&M dispatched the Tigers clean out of College Station sent a clear and precise warning shot to the rest of the Southeastern Conference.
Many a team would have folded the tent and called it a night in the second half Saturday, what with Aggieland drooping, starting quarterback Conner Weigman floundering and LSU going up and down the field.
But not this squad.
Calm, cool and collected the entire time, first-year Aggies coach Mike Elko pulled the trigger on Weigman – bringing in backup Marcel Reed and hoping for an offensive spark trailing by 10 in the third quarter.
Moves that bold either get you widely lauded or roundly jeered, and in Elko’s instance it earned the former. Texas A&M suddenly looked like a nitro-powered Funny Car in a Model T world, cranking out touchdowns on 4 straight possessions with Reed at the steering wheel.
Final score: 38-23. Bigger result: Texas A&M suddenly has a huge inside track to the SEC Championship Game – needing only to not stumble over their shoelaces in November before a regular season-ending tussle with No. 6 Texas.
The reason we say it is an inside track is that the Aggies are the SEC’s only team without a conference loss and they can earn their first trip to Atlanta without having to play Alabama or Georgia, the conference heavyweights that ruled most all of the time since Texas A&M joined the SEC in 2012.
Of course, tangling with Texas will be no easy task — even at raucous Kyle Field. The programs waged one of the more heated rivalries (and the 3rd-longest running) in the country before Texas A&M bolted from the Big 12 – playing every year from 1915 to 2011. And because the Longhorns enjoy a 76-37-5 series lead on their presumptive Little Brothers, you know no matter where Texas is in the rankings come Nov. 30 it will be insane.
But again, Texas A&M has the advantage there as well – as Texas must invade Kyle Field, home of the 12th Man and all those legendarily weird Yell Leaders. The Aggie Bonfire will probably be spotted from International Space Station, and lord knows the Midnight Yell Practice would violate local noise ordinances if any existed around the 102,733-seat chapel of Aggie football.
Elko deserves a lion’s share of the credit for Texas A&M’s slow-but-steady ascension to the Top 10 (the Aggies’ highest ranking since they were No. 6 in September 2022). Not only did he do a remarkable job jamming myriad fingers in the dam’s myriad holes left by former coach Jimbo Fisher, Elko’s instinct to go with Reed in an attempt to un-jam the offense Saturday was pitch-perfect – as Reed scrambled for 3 rushing touchdowns to break the unit and game open.
It also certainly helps that the defense got extra salty in the face of LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, who was 25-for-50 passing for 405 yards with 2 touchdowns but threw 3 extremely untimely second-half interceptions to move Big Mo over to the home sideline for good.
For what it’s worth, the entire college football galaxy still isn’t totally sold on Texas A&M. The whole Weigman situation could cause some long-term agita and going to both Columbia to play South Carolina and suburban Opelika to play Auburn won’t be picnics. That’s partly why college football computer predictors still list the Aggies behind Georgia, Texas, Tennessee and Alabama as SEC teams that could earn a Playoff bid.
The main reason, though, is Texas. Ah yes, the Longhorns – the thorn in Texas A&M’s side since Woodrow Wilson was Progressing all over the White House.
Now is the time, Aggieland, to start steeling yourselves not for the patience we recommended just a week prior but instead for the very best that Steve Sarkisian and Big Brother can throw at you.
Because it’s coming. Survive the stampede, and you can book a trip to Atlanta to play for the big enchilada for the first time ever.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
