After securing their second consecutive Southeastern Conference victory against Mississippi State, Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko is turning his team’s focus toward another talented league foe who defeated the Aggies’ in-state rivals in upset fashion over the weekend.
The 31-9 win over the Bulldogs was a massive one for the Maroon and White, as an elite defensive performance gave plentiful opportunity for the offensive playmakers to hit pay dirt in an electric environment at Kyle Field. However, the daunting tasks that lie ahead will be significant challenges that the Aggies must overcome to achieve their playoff aspirations.
This week’s roadblock comes in the form of the Florida Gators, who just knocked off Arch Manning and the Texas Longhorns in The Swamp on Saturday afternoon, after dropping three straight contests to USF, LSU and Miami. Although the Gators do have a weakness that Texas A&M should be able to exploit in Week 7, the program in Gainesville has displayed continuous improvement each week, which paid off with a ranked win over Steve Sarkisian’s squad.
There is much to be proud of from this weekend’s dominant performance against a battle-tested MSU squad, including Cashius Howell becoming the first Aggie since Von Miller to record multiple 3.0 sacks or more outings in a single season. Texas A&M will need to improve consistency, especially in limiting penalties, moving forward, however.
Here is everything Elko said in the weekly game week press conference on Monday, as his team prepares for another conference battle in Bryan-College Station, Texas, this weekend:
Elko asks the Maroon and White faithful to support Aggie volleyball’s massive upcoming match
“I just want to start by recognizing a big event Wednesday night,” Elko said. “We got a top-10 women’s volleyball game going on over in Reed Arena. Congratulations to Coach [Jamie] Morrison and the start that the girls have gotten off to. Anybody that can get out and support them, they got Kentucky coming into town [and] that’ll be a great game for them.”
Elko on A&M recognizing historic 1975 team
“Want to recognize the 1975 team, this is a throwback jersey game for us and we will be recognizing the 1975 team. They were the Southwest Conference champions [and] they reached as high as No. 2 in the polls that year and produced 10 NFL draft picks, which is still the largest number in any given year for Texas A&M football. It’ll be great to get those guys back, or as many of those guys back as we can on campus,” Elko said.
Elko speaks on Rueben Owens II’s performance on Saturday
“It was great to see him really kind of hit his stride, 21 carries for 142 yards. Really did a nice job consistently running the football the way we’d like to see him do it. Obviously, he has home-run ability. Really big night for him,” Elko said.
Elko talks about the defensive performance against Mississippi State
“Defensively, we played really well start to finish. We gave them one drive early. Outside of that, we really did a good job of executing what we were trying to get accomplished. Holding them to a field goal on the one drive, I thought was big also. That’s one of the things that we really emphasize when we play those teams is trying to make sure that when they do move the ball, that you can limit them to field goals,” Elko said.
Elko on what he saw from his team and what’s upcoming on Saturday
“It was a good night for us taking the next step forward and now we have an enormous challenge with Florida coming in,” Elko said. “I think Florida is by far and away the most talented team that we’ve played this year. They’ve got an excellent group of players, they’ve played a very competitive schedule, they’ve played in two top-10 road environments already so they’re going to be well-versed in what this is like and what it’s going to be like coming into Kyle Field, coming off a huge top-10 win last weekend and so they’ll be full of confidence and certainly ready to come in and give us their best shot.”
Elko discusses pre-game preparations and in-game preparation strategies
“When you go into a game, you kind of have a feeling for where the advantages are, what the game is going to look like, what success is potentially going to look like,” Elko said.
“I chuckle sometimes when people stick to the books because sometimes in-game the actual percentages and probabilities are not the same as maybe you thought they would be going into it and we try to adjust as best we can on the fly to kind of marry game flow and what’s happening with the choices and decisions we make,” Elko said.
Elko’s assessment of Florida QB DJ Lagway so far
“DJ is a kid that we’ve known and tried very hard to get him here,” Elko said. “He’s an extremely talented quarterback. Media narratives to me are so funny, I think he’s playing so much better. I think he’s made a lot of growth and taken a lot of strides. You see him very, very comfortable back there. I think he’s playing at a really high level. He’s a really talented kid.”
Elko on A&M’s third-down success
“We put such a tremendous emphasis on it. There’s not a whole lot of teams that go out on Monday and do 10 minutes on third-downs inside the 10-yard line, but we do. I’m not sure that’s normal. We tried to focus on that area of the field, and it has been good to us this year,” Elko said.
Elko talks about Marcel Reed’s performance against Florida in 2024
“That wasn’t an easy situation. Not a lot of people wanted to give us a lot of credit for that win, but it ended up being a big win against what ended up being a pretty good Florida team in a place that’s not easy to play. If we don’t do the things we need to do in our preparation this year, none of that will matter,” Elko said.
Elko discusses Florida’s offense
“They’re really physical. I think they have some really talented pieces on the outside. They put a lot of stress on you,” Elko said. “They present a lot of challenges to you in terms of defending them.”
Elko on Aggie defensive staff
“We’ve got a tremendous defensive staff. Jay (Bateman) does a phenomenal job. Bringing Lyle (Hemphill) in brought in another talented person to help with the job,” Elko said.
Elko talks schemes with TE Nate Boerkircher
“We challenged ourselves a lot this season to do some studies on how people run the ball and what people do to run the ball effectively in short-yardage situations,” Elko said.
Elko on the Texas A&M OL
“The challenge that I laid out for them is to stop having those two plays per game that send us backwards,” Elko said. “That’s why we didn’t have an offensive lineman of the week this week… We have high expectations for that group, and let’s get rid of the two plays that each one of them had that make you pull your hair out.”
Elko talks about Reed’s performances and growth
“You see a much more mature quarterback in his ability to sit in the pocket and deliver the football,” Elko said. “He does a lot of his work from the pocket, which is really important for us as an offense and for him from a health standpoint.”
“He gets a little bit anxious in the beginning of games, and that’s where you see some of the inaccuracies, and then connecting on the deep balls a little bit more,” Elko said.
Elko on players of the week
“Our two players of the week this week were not necessarily starters game one. When you talk about what it takes to grow this program to where it needs to be to win week in and week out, it’s going to take a lot of kids,” Elko said.
Elko talks about Taurean York getting close to 200 career tackles
“It’s a really cool milestone for him. I’m hopeful that I’m around to see him get to 300 because that’s what he’s capable of,” Elko said.
Elko discusses RB Le’Veon Moss’ stomach issues
It’s something we’re working through with him. I’m not sure there’s a ton of precautions or medicine for it. It’s just something he’s working through,” Elko said.
Elko on the team’s overall mindset moving forward
“They’re becoming more and more confident. It’s an empowering feeling to know that you have the ability to determine the outcome of games,” Elko said. “One of the mindsets that we’ve really tried to instill in them, and something they’re starting to embrace, is they can control the game.”
Elko talks about A&M’s secondary
“When you feel as though you’re not worried about that group, you can be a little bit more aggressive at times and put those guys in a little bit more isolation at times, it changes what you can dial up,” Elko said.
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This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: Everything Texas A&M HC Mike Elko said entering Week 7 contest against Florida
Reporting by Dylan Flippo, Aggies Wire / Aggies Wire
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