Texas A&M HC Mike Elko surprisingly admits where to place blame for early struggles in wild win over South Carolina

Mike Elko takes blame for early Texas A&M miscues and then highlights exactly what made the difference for Marcel Reed in the second half.

Travis May — College Football Managing Editor
Add as preferred source on Google
Texas A&M postgame press conference – South Carolina

The Texas A&M Aggies somehow pulled off the impossible on Saturday as they came back from 27 points down to defeat the South Carolina Gameocks 31-30. Interceptions. Punts. Fumbles returned for touchdowns. Missed field goals. Miscommunications on third down defense. Failures were everywhere for Texas A&M throughout the first half of Saturday’s game against South Carolina, but somehow they bounced back.

Head coach Mike Elko could have pointed the finger of blame in many directions following what was quite the mess of a game, but instead he surprisingly admitted that the criticism should fall on him. Yet again, Elko gives fans another reason to love him even more. It’s no wonder his players love to play hard for a guy that always takes responsibility, even when he’s most certainly not the one making the plays on the field.

Mike Elko takes blame and talks about how Marcel Reed bounced back

Obviously there was a lot to talk about following a 27-point comeback win, but the first questions had to address how that 27-point deficit even came to be. When asked about what went wrong to begin the game, coach Elko could have listed many things, but instead just took ownership for the problems:

“We talk about this a lot. If you take your foot off the gas in football, football will humble you quick. Clearly we weren’t in the mental space we needed to be in to start that game. That’s on me. I’m the head football coach. We weren’t doing things on either side of the ball that we needed to do to be successful. That’s on me. I’m the head coach. This game always finds a way to humble you if you don’t do it the way it’s supposed to be done. And clearly we didn’t do it the way it was supposed to be done to start that game.”

Mike Elko taking the blame as opposed to pointing towards the twenty-something players he could have exemplifies the massive culture shift that he’s instilled in the organization. Elko takes ownership for the entire program, every outcome. This has been consistent throughout this and last season. That ownership and responsibility sends a healthy message to his team that he’s got their back. It also instills a sense of ownership for everyone to take. When they make mistakes, own it. Learn from it. And do something to change future outcomes.

That’s exactly what coach Elko and his staff tried to do in the second half. Things weren’t working for the offense or defense. So, where do they begin? Fixing the issues that may be impacting the most important player, their quarterback. When asked about Marcel Reed and how he responded to halftime adjustments, coach Elko laid out exactly what they did to help get him into the rhythm that led to four straight second half touchdowns.

“I just told [Marcel Reed] to relax. He’s the quarterback, so all of the positives and negatives always fall on him. Offense is so much about rhythm. He makes a bad throw, we give up a pressure, someone drops a ball. That was the rhythm we were in in the first half, and it was so choppy. We were able to get back in to halftime, just settle him down. I thought the tempo helped a lot. I think us going tempo to start the second half took some of the thinking out of his brain and just got him loose and free and playing. That certainly helped him get into a better rhythm. South Carolina didn’t handle it particularly well, so we were able to get some more easy access throws. Then he just got rolling and got going.”

Elko went on to break down the exact kind of pacing and “six-minute” offense they deployed in the second half, but it was all about going tempo. Sometimes the best thing to do is simplify, and get in a fast “feel, don’t think” kind of rhythm, and wow did that pay off. Marcel Reed and the offense quickly amassed nearly 300 yards of offense and 28 more points in the second half, ultimately winning the day, all because of small adjustments that set South Carolina off balance and allowed the Aggies to find their own.

After the game, the celebrations were obviously wild, but none perhaps more so than that of Elko himself (as you can see in the post below). Elko went from a little dance among his players to smashing a chair amid an eruption of applause and cheers from the Aggies players. This team loves Mike Elko. The fans love this team. This Texas A&M football team might just be headed to a ridiculously special place here soon if they keep this up, and it’s all because of the culture that coach Elko has created.

We’ll be back with more Texas A&M Aggies coverage here at A to Z Sports soon! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!

Related Articles