Mike Elko finally breaks program-defining trend in furious fourth-quarter rally against Notre Dame
The Texas A&M Aggies have been defined as one of the biggest underachieving programs in the country for years. Outside of a minor run with Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M has been known as a hotbed for talent, but short on toughness and clutch play. That finally changed on Saturday night against Notre Dame.Entering its showdown […]
The Texas A&M Aggies have been defined as one of the biggest underachieving programs in the country for years. Outside of a minor run with Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M has been known as a hotbed for talent, but short on toughness and clutch play. That finally changed on Saturday night against Notre Dame.
Entering its showdown with the Irish with a 16-26 record against AP Top 25 teams since September 2015, Mike Elko was faced with a familiar situation. Texas A&M lost the time of possession and penalty battles, but the Aggies still emerged with the win. That’s been the antithesis of how this program has seen games play out for far too long.
The recipe finally helped Elko and his Aggies overcome self-imposed mistakes.
Texas A&M Breaks Trends to Beat Notre Dame
In what was an insane back-and-forth game that included a called-back kickoff return for a touchdown, excellent run defenses, and timely playmaking, the Aggies kept swinging big. Elko’s offense outproduced Notre Dame’s despite converting only four-of-11 third downs. His defense amazingly allowed the Irish to convert nine-of-19 conversion downs, including two fourth downs.
It didn’t matter.
Nor did it matter that quarterback Marcel Reed completed only 17-of-37 passing attempts, or a run game that averaged four yards a carry and never found a hole bigger than 12 yards for a back. Take Reed’s scrambles out, and Texas A&M had 91 yards.
It didn’t matter. Texas A&M punched hard with chunk plays, relying on receivers Mario Craver and KC Concepcion to combine for 11 receptions, 289 yards and one touchdown. Craver did the majority of the damage, using his speed to torch Notre Dame over and over again. Then, Texas A&M hit the final haymaker when tight end Nate Boerkircher caught his lone pass for an 11-yard score on fourth down.
“Sometimes, it has to happen that way. Sometimes, it’s going to be ugly,” Elko said. “That’s the door we had to kick down. I don’t think we were going to magically become a team that everything was going to go smoothly. We had to kick this door down, and we did that tonight.”
rephrase and rewrite this:
Elko’s team proved much more resilient against the type of team to which it typically wilts. Texas A&M erased five deficits to stun No. 8 Notre Dame 41-40, recording its first road win against an AP top-10 opponent since 2014 at Auburn and its first road triumph against an AP top-10 nonconference opponent since 1979 (No. 6 Penn State).
The 16th-ranked Aggies did so in an unlikely fashion, overcoming repeated mistakes — a punt blocked and returned for a touchdown and Marcel Reed’s interception. Elko, though, continues to put faith in Reed. And that faith could be what leads to the rest of this team rallying and redefining everything we thought we knew about Texas A&M.
“That narrative was never right. That narrative was one of the most unfair narratives,” Elko said. “The kid was a top-10 returning QB who completed over 60% of his passes. … The story just became he can’t throw.”
So much for that on a night where Reed was a clear winner, and Texas A&M got a monkey off its back.
