Click here to view Texas A&M’s Monday press conference.
Texas A&M football coach Mike Elko is fishing for complements.
No, he’s not seeking verbal reassurance. He’s not looking for compliments. He’s looking for complements.
Speaking at his weekly press conference on Monday, Elko stressed that the struggling Aggies, who have lost their first two Southeastern Conference games, need to play complementary football.
“We’re not responding to things that are going against us in game the way we need to,” Elko said. “I think one of the strengths of the team last year was how we played off of each other. You know, when a side of the ball was struggling, the other side of the ball’s ability to make a play or recreate momentum to recreate energy.
“We just were not doing that at the level that needs to be done right now. Not even close. So, what happens is the snowball effect. We’ve got to figure out how to do a better job of playing off each other, playing some level of complementary football to each other because momentum is a real thing.”
“We’ve got to figure out how to do a better job of playing off each other, playing some level of complementary football to each other because momentum is a real thing.”
- Texas A&M head football coach Mike Elko
Momentum is against the Aggies (2-2, 0-2), who face Arkansas on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Kyle Field. That snowball effect has become a full-fledged avalanche of mistakes, miscues and missed opportunities.
A&M opened the season ranked No. 8, dropped to No. 23 following a 31-21 loss to Kentucky and fell out of the rankings after losing to LSU, 35-6, last Saturday.
The Aggies, who are now ranked 112th in the nation in total offense, managed just 196 yards against LSU. That’s A&M's lowest single-game output since managing just 186 yards in a stunning upset loss to Appalachian State on Sept. 10, 2022.
The Aggies longest play vs. LSU was a 27-yard completion from quarterback Marcel Reed to receiver Isaiah Horton. It was the Aggies’ only play of 20 yards or longer.
A&M has just eight plays of 20 yards or more. That’s easily the fewest in the SEC. Next is Texas with 12.
“We’ve got to find ways to create more explosive plays,” Elko said. “We’ve got to make sure that we’re developing a rhythm of what our kids can do comfortably, try to create a little bit more flow to it.
“You know, we’re so choppy right now. It’s a good play followed up by a TFL (tackle for loss) or a good play followed by an incompletion.
“It’s too choppy, which puts us behind the chains a lot. We’re playing a lot uphill, and that’s not helping. We’ve just got to figure out ways to creatively stay ahead of the chains with the football.”
Danny Grant, TexAgs
With 197 total yards, Texas A&M’s offense averaged just 3.3 yards per play at LSU.
Obviously, that’s easier said than done. Elko acknowledged as much.
But he said he sees no signs that the Aggies are giving up.
“When you go into the meeting room, you don’t have a broken team that you’re trying to piece back together,” he said. “I think you have some kids that are pressing and wanting it so bad that it’s not coming the way they want. You have some kids that need to learn a little bit more what it takes to strain to the level you need to strain to.
“I think you have some kids that need to practice better. There’s a lot of layers to each kid as to where performance needs to improve to get the results they want on Saturday.
“But, big picture, we have a team that showed up on time for the team meeting this morning wanting to figure out what it’s going to take to find this thing, change this and move in a different direction.”
Recapturing Reed’s results
Marcel Reed has hardly resembled the quarterback who last season passed for 3,169 yards and 25 touchdowns.
Thus far, he’s passed for just 738 with six touchdowns. Further, he’s now completing just 55.4 percent of his passes.
He’s also rushed for a mere 104 yards and only one touchdown. Last year, he rushed for 493 yards and six scores.
Danny Grant, TexAgs
Saturday was the third time in his last six games that Marcel Reed did not account for a touchdown.
Elko has his reasons to be confident Reed can get back on track.
“I just think his work ethic,” Elko said. “How he comes to work every day. Who he is. I think he’s attacking this thing. And so we believe in him.
“We believe that we’ve got to find a way to create opportunities for him to be more successful. We’ve seen him be more successful. So we’ve got to get him there.”
On the bright side
While the offense and defense are unquestionably struggling, A&M’s special teams have been excellent.
Punter Tyler White leads the nation with a 50-yard average on 15 punts. Kicker David Olano is 5-for-5 on field goal attempts. That includes a 53-yarder.
The Aggies are also seventh in the nation in punt coverage.
Elko doesn’t get too much solace in that, though.
“I’m not a silver lining type of guy,” he said. “That’s not my nature when things are going well. It certainly isn’t my nature when things are going bad.
“But I think if you look at the way Tyler White is punting the ball, you look at the way David Olano’s is kicking the ball, the way we’re covering thing. Those things certainly have taken positive strides.
“The rest of it is a work in progress.”
Notes
• For the second consecutive week, Elko did not name any players of the game.
• White was named to the Ray Guy Award “Ray’s 8” for averaging 51.9 yards on seven punts vs. LSU. It’s the second time this season he’s been listed on the “Ray’s 8” list.
• The SEC announced that kickoff for A&M’s game at Missouri on Oct. 10 will be either 11 a.m. or 11:45 a.m. CT, and the game will be televised on either ABC or the SEC Network.
