Click HERE to view Texas A&M’s Monday press conference.
Coach Mike Elko was often blunt, sometimes a little gruff and almost always business-like on Monday as he spoke about Texas A&M’s upcoming Southeastern Conference football game against arch-rival Texas.
The No. 3 Aggies (11-0, 7-0) need a victory to ensure a chance to play for the SEC championship next week. Texas (8-3, 5-2) desperately needs a win to boost its frail hopes of sneaking into the College Football Playoff.
When asked how he gets players to focus on the upcoming challenge, Elko offered a concise answer.
“I don’t have to tell them every much,” he said. “I think they’re pretty much clear on this one. This is an easy one to get their attention for.”
When asked about the status of All-SEC running back Le’Veon Moss, who has been sidelined with an ankle injury since Oct. 11, Elko responded: “Probably not, but we’ll see.”
And when questioned about the status of receiver Mario Craver and running back Rueben Owens II, who sat out last week’s 48-0 victory over Samford, Elko was even more succinct.
“Those guys are awesome,” he said.
Whether he was referring to their on-field ability or their health status was unclear.
What is seemingly clear is that Elko is extremely focused on the task at hand.
Elko was asked if Texas’ defense was similar to any previous A&M opponents this season. He answered without really answering.
“They’re really talented. They’re a really talented football team,” Elko said. “Obviously, anytime you play this game, it’s going to have a little bit of a different energy about it. That’ll be one of the biggest challenges that comes along with it.
“I think it’ll be an exciting opportunity for us on Friday night.”
Texas A&M boasts one of the most explosive offenses in the nation. The Aggies are tied for eighth in the nation with 182 plays from scrimmage that have produced 10 yards or more. They have 66 plays of at least 20 yards.
Further, A&M has scored a touchdown from 39 yards or more in each of its last four games.
That explosiveness is a big reason the Aggies are unbeaten on the road this season.
Craver scored on an 86-yard catch-and-run at Notre Dame. Quarterback Marcel Reed ran 41 yards for a touchdown at LSU. Owens had a 57-yard touchdown run at Missouri.
The Aggies’ longest scoring play in a 45-42 victory at Arkansas was “merely” a 24-yard pass to Ashton Bethel-Roman.
"Obviously, I think we have an ability to be explosive,” Elko said. “That helps not being locked into having to always put together 13, 14, 15-play drives.
“I think those are the things that become a lot more challenging when you go on the road with the environment and the crowd and the defense playing with a little bit more energy. Sometimes, it’s hard to, you know, execute 15 straight plays.
“I think some of our explosiveness has really been important for us. I think you’ve seen that in each of our road games, and that’s been important and certainly would be important Friday night.”
As one of the leading Heisman Trophy candidates, Reed has made more than a few big plays that are often defined as “Heisman moments.”
Elko indicated he would have difficulty picking Reed’s Heisman moment. There are too many.
“Certainly, when he led us on that game-winning touchdown drive in South Bend (to defeat Notre Dame),” Elko said. “When he brought us to victory at Arkansas, when you needed to score on every possession. When he rallied us back from being down 30-3 at halftime against South Carolina, and when he threw for almost 300 yards in the second half.
“Many of the ones in between. Probably those would be the three that stand out the most.”
“Finish” may have been the most repeated F-word for the A&M football team this season.
That was in response to the Aggies’ 1-4 fade at the end of last season.
As their record shows, the Aggies started strong this year and never let up.
“(Finish) was a mindset to get us through some of the hard parts of the season,” Elko said.
He indicated the Aggies don’t need to remind themselves to finish this week.
“Obviously, this is the final week,” Elko said. “So finishing the season is important, and finishing this week and this journey is important. I think the magnitude of this moment will create enough energy that it doesn’t need to be a big part of it.
“We’ll talk a lot about finishing within the game and finishing plays, for sure.”
Director of Athletics Trev Alberts spoke to the media about coming to an agreement to raise Elko’s salary and extend his contract six years through 2031.
Alberts said the negotiations really didn’t take too long.
“Mike and I, philosophically, had a general idea,” Alberts said. “You know, the market is the market. That’s really an easy thing for me to figure out.
“Ultimately, I think there were a couple of conversations with Mike. And then I sat down with Mike’s agent, and it took about an hour.”
Alberts said reaching an agreement was made easier because Elko genuinely wanted to remain at A&M.
“We’re really fortunate to have him leading our football program,” Alberts said. “It just felt right and was obvious that we needed to get this done right now.”
Alberts indicated he expected the game between Texas A&M and Texas to continue to be on the day after Thanksgiving.
The game was once traditionally played on Thanksgiving Day, but is on Black Friday this year.
“I do anticipate it’ll stay on Friday, for us,” Alberts said. “Chris (Del Conte, Texas Athletic Director) and I talked about this a little bit.
“What you really want, from my perspective, is you want the game to be in a (television) window where you’re like ‘it.’
“You want that to be in a primetime window when the entire focus of the country is on those two brands, so we’re excited that it’s on prime time. We’re excited it’s a Friday night. We think it’s a perfect time.”
NOTES
• Players honored for their performances vs. Samford were running back Amari Daniels (offense), Marco Jones (defense) and Landon Rink (special teams).
• Rink was also the defensive lineman of the week.
• Scout team honorees were defensive end Kendall Jackson (defense), running back Preston Landis (offense) and tight end Zachary Clay (special teams).
