Press Conference: Elko & Co. travel to Baton Rouge for top-20 showdown

The following are live, paraphrased notes from the Monday afternoon media availability:

Mike Elko

• We will recap the Arkansas game. Our Players of the Week: OL is Chase Bisontis. Offensive was Marcel Reed. Special teams was Bravion Rogers. Reed played his most complete game. Rogers continues to be a major factor for us. Defensively, we had nobody which speaks to the game. We didn’t do the things we needed to do to be succesful. Next up is LSU. Big opportunity. Big stage.
   
• For all the Aggies traveling, Coach Jamie Morrison and his team are playing on Friday night in Baton Rouge.
   
• Trying to identify how people are attacking us and having a defensive system that can adapt. Sometimes things don’t register when they are calling the Hogs. You can get them in the locker room and settle them down. You try to predict where the game is going.
   
• When you talk about a championship program looks like, it’s a bunch of guys being ready when its time. Everyone wants the ball. I know everyone wants the ball more. There will come a time when the ball will come to you, and you have to make that play. It might be the difference between winning and losing or going to the playoffs or not. EJ Smith has not had all the limelight he’s wanted his senior year. I’m sure he wants to be the feature back and get 20 carries. But he converts a big fourth down on Saturday.
   
• We came here with a vision. The vision has not been this program’s reality. We can’t keep saying, “We want to be somehting.” That requires beating top-10 teams and winning on the road. It’s good to see the program moving in the right direction.
   
• We won’t win very many games playing defense like that. I told one player, sometimes this generation has to have their hand burnt on the stove multiple times before they stop. It’s concerning. Hopefully, its a lesson learned.
   
• By tough time beating LSU, you mean we’ve never done it? For a long time, we didn’t stand up tot he challenge phsycially. My first experince there was playing the 2019 team. That wasn’t a ton of fun. The series has been balanced. Someone will crack through on the road.
   
• On the Penn State job, I think it’s absolutely hilarous how the media covers coaches. Three weeks ago, I was getting fired. Now, I’m getting hired? It is a waste of brain space to talk or think about any of that stupidity.
   
• You do the best you can to create as many obstacles and hurdles. You hope they do it Saturday night.
   
• Reed had inconsistency in the passing game progressions last year. He can deliver the football at a much more higher level now.
   
• Albert Regis is one of the most unsung members of the defense. When you are DT, stats don’t come easy. Getting to 100 tackles is a really cool accomplishment.
   
• I have a ton of respect Garrett Nussmeier.
   
• Harold Perkins Jr. is a really good player. We recruited him. He has had a great career.
   
• You have seen us make plays in the fourth quarter that have been the dfference. We are 3-0 in those games. We talk about how success is rented.
   
• We are not the kind of staff who points fingers. You can point to a lot of reasons why those things failed. That’s leadership to not just point the finger. It’s not how we function.
   
• In the modern era of college football, you look at my counterparts, and there is not a lot of time to build or look at the future. You have to hit the ground running. The support we have received is validation this place has the potential when I took the job.
   
• Credit to KC Concepcion on how he handles himself. With him being a prime player, he knew he would be in the media. We had a conversation about his stutter and him being comfortable in the media. He said, “He’s good,” and will do it. He didn’t have the sophomore year he wanted to. He’s been on a mission to show he’s here for Texas A&M, not just himself.
   
• Even as the DC here, I knew about Rueben Owens II. He has not played a lot of football in this system. He is getting more comfortable with what we are asking him to do.
   
• You get into a rank order in who is carrying the ball in what situations. Smith carried the ball well in Florida. You give him a chance in short yardage.
   
• Arkansas had a plan, and they had a ton of success. We can’t play defense like we did against anybody. I don’t know the challenge of Arkansas was it. It was Texas A&M.