Texas A&M football is having a spectacular season, with an undefeated record. The Aggies moved to 9-0 on the campaign, with a 38-17 victory over Missouri Saturday.
Aggies coach Mike Elko though wasn't happy with his team's first half performance. Texas A&M held a 14-0 lead at the break, but Elko challenged his team to perform much better. His defense allowed 207 rushing yards in the game.
“I challenged them at halftime,” Elko said, per ESPN. “I challenged both sides of the ball — only one side of the ball responded — that we had to go out and control the line of scrimmage better.”
Texas A&M players did listen to an extent. The Aggies allowed just 77 passing yards to Missouri, and harassed the Tigers quarterback Matt Zollers constantly.
“From a CEO perspective, obviously I believe this is what this program is capable of,” Elko said. “I think that's why we're here. We're here because we believe the ceiling of this program is really high. It's why we took the job. It's why we came here as a family. … This is kind of what everyone has been talking about with this program for a long time. So for nine games we've lived up to it, and we've got to go finish.”
Elko is in just his second full season at the school.
Texas A&M is making a case that they are the best team in the country
The Aggies are the only team in the country that have three road wins this season over teams in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, per ESPN. One of those wins is a victory in South Bend over Notre Dame.
Texas A&M wants more. Elko was brought in after the school fired Jimbo Fisher in 2023. Elko had success at Duke, and now he has turned the Aggies into arguably the best program in the SEC.
The program has games remaining with South Carolina, Samford and Texas. An undefeated record is within sight.
“Finish,” Aggies running back Rueben Owens said. “That was the word for spring. For fall camp. Finish. Last year we didn't finish, so all week it was finish, finish, finish.”
Missouri dropped to 6-3, following the loss.
