Tag: texas aggies football

How the Texas A&M defense stacks up against New Mexico State’s rushing attack

The No. 15 Aggies (7-2) and Aggies (2-7) enter with opposite records but the game will likely be won in the trenches between the respective rushing attacks.

The Texas A&M football team returns from its second bye this weekend for a non-conference matchup at Kyle Field versus New Mexico State

The No. 15 Aggies (7-2) and, yes, Aggies (2-7) enter with opposite records but the game will likely be won in the trenches between the respective rushing attacks.

Through nine contests, the Texas A&M defense has allowed 1,122 yards rushing on 282 attempts, which averages out to 4.0 yards per carry. The Aggies’ opponents have averaged 124.7 yards per game on the ground and totaled 9 touchdowns thus far.

New Mexico State has surpassed all over those averages. The Aggies have racked up 1,680 yards rushing on 366 attempts for an average of 4.6 yards per carry. New Mexico State has tallied 14 TD on the ground.

The Aggies’ offense relies on the run heavily. New Mexico State has only 1,049 yards and 7 TD passing. Therefore, if Texas A&M shuts down the rush early, the Lobos will be forced to throw, creating more opportunities for strip sacks and interceptions.

The Aggies and New Mexico State kick off Saturday night at 6:45 p.m. on SEC Network.

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Texas A&M head coach proclaims he’s ‘not trying to be the best Mike Elko football program’

“The thing that makes me unique is I’m not trying to be the best Mike Elko football program, I’m trying to build the best football program.”

During a recent interview on the Aggie Football Hour, Texas A&M coach Mike Elko discussed brands in college football and how he differs from the pack.

“The thing that makes me a little bit unique is I’m not trying to be the best Mike Elko football program,” Elko said this week. “I’m trying to build the best football program at Texas A&M.”

Elko is very wise with his words, never taking direct shots at his peers or anyone, but he does a great job alluding to others. In the 37-plus minute conversation with Andrew Monaco, Elko may have been referring to LSU head coach Brian Kelly, who has certainly built his own personal brand.

A key example of Kelly’s brand recognition was suddenly having a southern accent after he departed from Notre Dame and arrived in the bayou. Meanwhile, Elko has remained the same dude regardless of where he is.

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Instant reactions to No. 10 Texas A&M’s blowout 44-20 loss to South Carolina

Texas A&M falls 44-20 on the road to South Carolina, dropping its first SEC game of the season.

No. 10 Texas A&M (7-2, 5-1 SEC) was handled by South Carolina (5-3, 3-3 SEC) 44-20 on the road, the Aggies’ first SEC loss of the season.

The SEC is an extremely competitive week-to-week league. There are no trap games in this league. You line up, and the better team each week wins. On Saturday, the Gamecocks punched A&M in the mouth and ran away from the Aggies in a statement win.

Coach Mike Elko’s style of defense was absent. The Aggies were plagued by untimely penalties and a lack of toughness. However, the most unforgivable thing had to be the poor tackling. The defense was called perfectly several times, but the defender missed the sack or there was a defensive penalty.

Offensively, they looked like the team that stepped onto the field against Notre Dame to start the season. Redshirt quarterback Marcel Reed started; however, the spark from his three-touchdown comeback win over LSU was missing. They couldn’t push the ball downfield, the running game stagnated with the loss of running back Le’Veon Moss in the first half and Reed had two costly turnovers.

Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

It was not a good night in the office for the coaching staff or the players, who dropped a tough game before the second bye week of the season. This loss is not season-ending, but the Aggies will need to win out to have a chance at the SEC title game and a college football playoff spot.

Going into their second bye week, the Aggies’ next game is at home against New Mexico State on Nov. 16 at Kyle Field in Bryan-College Station, Texas.

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Texas A&M football head coach Mike Elko runs ‘a real program,’ he’s ‘not a politician’

“This is a real program. It is not fake,” Elko proclaimed. “It is not a politician running this program, talking fast and BS-ing everybody.”

Texas A&M football head coach Mike Elko did not hold back in his postgame press conference Saturday night following a 38-23 victory versus No. 8 LSU.

“I think it’s the way that we talk to the young people. The things that we talk about, the messaging, how we bring really good people into the building. We talk about doing things together, we talk about culture. Everyone talks about it but then we go out and live it every day,” Elko proclaimed. “I think we back up our actions, we’re very honest, very open and this is a real program.

“It’s not fake. It’s not a politician running this program, talking fast and BS-ing everybody. This is a real program! For all the recruits out there, this is a real place. If you want to be really good at football, this is a really good place to be.”

After beating another top 10 conference rival, the No. 14 Aggies (7-1, 5-0 SEC) will elevate in all the polls before playing at struggling South Carolina (4-3, 2-3) next weekend at 6:30 p.m. on ABC.

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Instant reactions to No. 14 Texas A&M football team victory versus No. 8 LSU

Following Saturday’s matchup between the Aggies and Tigers, we break down our instant reaction.

At long last, the Marcel Reed era in College Station can truly begin.

The Texas A&M football team hosted LSU in a primetime matchup this weekend with first place in the conference on the line. The No. 14 Aggies (7-1, 5-0 SEC) overcame a slow start to defeat the No. 8 Tigers (6-2, 3-1) by a final score of 38-23 on Saturday night at Kyle Field.

With redshirt sophomore quarterback Conner Weigman under center, Texas A&M’s offense was stagnant and struggled to get going. Then in the penultimate period, head coach Mike Elko made the bold, but correct, decision to replace Weigman with Reed.

The redshirt freshman immediately gave the Aggies a spark that they so desperately needed. Texas A&M trailed 17-7, then Reed rushed into the end zone twice to give the Aggies a 4-point advantage entering the final quarter.

With all the momentum, Texas A&M never looked back and outscored LSU 31-6 in the second half to earn its first 5-0 SEC start in program history. Just like the Aggies did Saturday, Elko can’t look back and must roll with Reed for the remainder of the season.

Otherwise, Texas A&M can kiss its hopes for the College Football Playoff goodbye, because Weigman isn’t the guy.

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Texas A&M QB Conner Weigman ‘just got a little bit fast’ per Aggies coach Mike Elko

“Going into halftime he was in a good spot. In the second half he just got a little fast. I kept telling him on the sideline to slow down.”

The Texas A&M football team returned from a bye this weekend and earned a double-digit victory against Mississippi State, led by redshirt sophomore quarterback Conner Weigman.

The No. 14 Aggies (6-1, 4-0 SEC) beat the Bulldogs (1-6, 0-4) by a final score of 34-24 on Saturday evening at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville. Despite entering the matchup 100% healthy, Weigman didn’t look sharp against the lesser conference foe.

“I thought going into halftime he was in a good spot,” coach Mike Elko said postgame. “I think in the second half he just got a little bit fast. I kept telling him on the sideline to slow down.”

In the first 30 minutes of action, Weigman was 7-of-11 for 121 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. In the second half, he was 8-of-14 for 96 yards and 1 interception.

Elko has made it clear this season that Weigman is his guy. But if he doesn’t play more consistently going forward, the 12th Man will continue to call for redshirt freshman QB Marcel Reed to replace him as the starter.

Texas A&M will host LSU at home on Saturday, Oct. 26th, at 6:30 p.m. CT. The game will air on ABC.

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Instant reactions to No. 14 Texas A&M football team’s win over Mississippi State

Following Saturday’s matchup between the Aggies and Bulldogs, we break down our instant reaction.

The Texas A&M football team returned from a bye this week with a conference road matchup at struggling Mississippi State, which was much closer than it should’ve been.

The No. 14 Aggies (6-1, 4-0 SEC) beat the Bulldogs (1-6, 0-4) by a final score of 34-24 on Saturday evening at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville. While any double-digit victory in the SEC may look impressive on paper, this win was anything but that.

With Texas A&M well-rested following the week off, the Aggies should’ve dominated. Junior quarterback Conner Weigman‘s fourth quarter interception brought the game within one score and more stressful than it should’ve been.

It would have been one thing if Texas A&M jumped out to a big lead, put its backups in and the final score was closer than the matchup truly was. A prime example of that was the conference victory at Florida earlier this year.

Ultimately, the Aggies won their sixth game in a row and remained unbeaten in conference play, which is nothing to be scoffed at. However, if Texas A&M plans to be a true contender and qualify for the expanded College Football Playoff this season, the Aggies need to take care of lesser opponents early.

Otherwise, the top-ranked Longhorns will embarrass Texas A&M to conclude the regular season at Kyle Field in November and squash any hopes for the program’s first national championship in the modern era.

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Coach Mike Elko squashes any rumors regarding Texas A&M faking injuries for an advantage

“It was a kid having to stop the game because there was no other way to stop the game, not because we were giving ourselves an advantage.”

As the Texas A&M football head coach, Mike Elko has to address a great many topics, including what legendary coach Nick Saban describes as “rat poison.”

That was certainly the case to begin this week. During his weekly press conference ahead of this weekend’s matchup at Mississippi State, Elko had to answer whether Aggies intentionally fake being hurt.

“Do we condone faking injury? No,” Elko said Monday afternoon. “At times, it was a kid having to stop the game because there was no other way to stop the game, not necessarily because we were giving ourselves an advantage.”

Being a defensive guy at heart, Elko went on to mention that defenders are at a higher risk for injuries due to collegiate squads running up-tempo, fast offenses. However, he added that players faking injuries is a “bad look” for college football as a whole.

The No. 14 Aggies (5-1, 3-0 SEC) return from their bye Saturday afternoon to play at Davis Wade Stadium versus the Bulldogs at 3:15 p.m. CT on SEC Network.

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Derek Miller attributes ‘teamwork and sacrifice’ as reason why Aggies landed Nic Scourton

“When I look back on it, I am proud of the way people work together, positive attitude and willingness just to keep being gritty every day.”

In a recent interview with Carter Karels of GigEm247, football general manager Derek Miller recalled the process of how Texas A&M landed standout pass rusher Nic Scourton from Purdue in the NCAA Transfer Portal.

“I think what best encapsulates the whole thing that I joke about is Scourton’s announcement to get into the portal on December 26th at 9 a.m. So any Christmas holiday enjoyment — the next morning, the Scourton news was out there, and then we were trying to figure that one out,” Miller explained. “What encapsulates the time period is teamwork and sacrifice. It is the holidays. You are moving. I am not the only one who picked up, packed a bag and moved down here and said, ‘We will figure the rest out later.’

NCAA terminates national letter of intent program that has existed for 60 years

On Wednesday morning, the committee approved the NLI program to become apart of the NCAA’s signing and recruiting rules immediately.

The National Collegiate Athletics Association Division I Council voted last week to officially terminate its national letter of intent program.

On Wednesday morning, the committee approved the NLI program to become apart of the NCAA’s signing and recruiting rules immediately. However, a hearing will be held on April 7, 2025 to formally approve the decision.

Beginning in 1964, the NLI program has served as the binding agreement between the top high school athletes in the nation and the “non-profit” collegiate governing body. The agreement is going to be replaced by a new financial contract which aligns with the transition that the NCAA has recently gone through regarding athletes being able to profit off their respective Name, Image and Likeness.

There is an impending revenue sharing model that will be presented following NIL becoming a normal aspect of collegiate sports. Early signing day is on Dec. 4 and National Signing Day will take place on Feb. 5.

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