Joe Rutland
Writer
Mike Elko has done a heck of a job in getting the Texas A&M Aggies to an 11-0 record this season and right in the middle of the College Football Playoff conversation.
Elko wants to finish the regular season out with a perfect record and will lead Texas A&M into Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Friday to do just that. The Aggies, currently No. 3 in the latest College Football Playoff Rankings, face the No. 17 Longhorns at 7:30 p.m. Eastern.
For Elko, he has a lot of respect for what Texas coach Steve Sarkisian has been building during his tenure with the Longhorns.
“They’re really talented,” Elko said at his weekly press conference on Monday. “They’re a really talented football team. Obviously, anytime you play this game, it’s going to have a little bit of a different energy about it.
“That will be one of the biggest challenges that comes along with it, and I think it’ll be an exciting opportunity for us Friday night,” Elko said.
When looking at game film, Elko noted that the Longhorns are a bit different than they were at the start of this season.
“Certainly they were playing a lot of young guys and a lot of new starters, and I think as they’ve gone through the season, you’ve seen a lot of growth,” Elko said. “You would anticipate that. They do a really good job developing their guys, and it’s a good football team.”
As for his thoughts on Texas quarterback Arch Manning, who has shown signs of improvement in his play in recent games, Elko said, “He’s a really talented quarterback. I think he’s capable of making a lot of throws and has really athletic feet and can do a lot of things.”
Of course, Elko counters Manning with his own stellar quarterback in Marcel Reed. He has plenty of big plays from Reed to look back upon this incredible season for the Aggies, but a few stand out in particular.
“Certainly when he led us on a game-winning touchdown drive in South Bend; when he brought us to victory at Arkansas when we needed to score on every possession; when he rallied us back from being down 30-3 at halftime against South Carolina and went for almost 300 yards in the second half,” Elko said.
“And any of the ones in between probably, but those would be the three that stand out the most.”
No solid Aggies or Longhorns fans need to have anything much said about this long rivalry, which dates back to when both schools were a part of the old Southwest Conference.
Yet Elko isn’t blind to the rivalry talk at all.
“You get a feel for it,” Elko said. “I think it was what I thought it would be last year. I knew it was going to be electric, and it was. I knew there was going to be a lot of energy in it, and there was.
“When you watch the speed of the game relative to the speed of other games, it’s a lot faster,” he said on Monday. “Everybody seems to be running a step or two faster in this game because of how much it means.
“That’s what happens when the energy gets up to that level,” Elko continued. “It certainly reaffirmed what I thought it would be like, but (it was) certainly kind of how I anticipated it would go.”
Texas A&M wants to avenge last season’s loss to Texas at Kyle Field. Elko and his Aggies just might be in a solid position to do so under the lights in Austin, Texas, and in front of a nationally televised audience, too.
Cody Croy
Writer
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Jason Berry
Writer
The Fiesta Bowl semifinal sets the stage for a compelling clash as the No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels face the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes with a national championship berth on the line. How They Got There Both teams arrive in Arizona after navigating the first two rounds of the playoffs. Ole Miss opened its postseason […]
Cody Croy
Writer
The Buckeyes are wasting no time following the loss to Miami. The off-season has begun, and former LSU and Georgia assistant Cortez Hankton is set to step into a role with Ohio State as the wide receivers coach. Hankton will replace Brian Hartline, who left the team to become the next head coach at USF. […]
