Mike Elko discusses how opening vs. Notre Dame impacts offseason, preparation

Texas A&M’s opening contest of the season against Notre Dame has plenty of billing. ESPN’s College GameDay will be on hand, Aggies head coach Mike Elko is going against a team he was previously a coordinator for and facing off against Riley Leonard, the quarterback he was coaching at Duke in 2023.

And Elko finds a top-notch opponent to start the season has plenty of benefits as he tries to keep his players, coaches and staff locked in throughout the long offseason. Speaking at SEC Media Days on Thursday, Elko explained how the strong opponent to start the year can shape the offseason.

“I’m a football coach, I’d like to play no teams of that caliber, but I guess we have to,” Elko said, getting a quip in before diving into his answer. “No, I think the benefit of having a game like that in the opener is you have everyone’s attention. I think our program is very much aware that we have to be firing on all cylinders the first time we run out of the tunnel. I think that’s created urgency in our program, that goes all the way back to January. I think when they announced College GameDay was coming to town, it even lit the fire even more.”

And keeping Notre Dame front of mind is one of the best ways to guard against apathy or a sense of security as the Aggies barrel toward Week 1.

“And so I think when you get into those dog days of training camp where kids start to drag and get tired, it’s really easy to flash up there a logo of a big opener and get their attention back really quick,” Elko said. “And so from that perspective it’s really good. Sometimes you would like maybe a game to get the rust off, but it’s going to be a level playing field for both of us, so we’ll go out there and put our best foot forward.”

The Aggies are rekindling an in-state rivalry this year

For Texas, one huge benefit of joining the SEC is getting to rekindle their rivalry with in-state foe Texas A&M. The Aggies and ‘Horns faced off every single season from 1915 through 2011, but haven’t played each other since Texas barely edged A&M 27-25 back in ’11. Now, in their first year in the SEC, the powers that be made no hesitation in matching up Texas and Texas A&M, as they’ll play in the final game of the regular season.

So, when Quinn Ewers stopped by to chat with Andy Staples for a video on the On3 YouTube channel, Staples brought up that A&M-Texas game and asked what it means for Ewers to get to play in the first matchup in 13 seasons.

“As a native Texan, what’s it like to be able to be a part of that game?” asked Staples, to which Ewers came up with a pretty spicy response.

“I mean, I’m excited for it. I was super young when it went away,” Ewers said. “But you know, hearing family members, especially my dad, talk about it, he actually said that, him growing up, that the A&M vs. Texas game was bigger than the Red River Rivalry.”

A bold take from Ewers’ father, but that shows just how much the rivalry means to the older generations of Texas fans.

“So, to have that game back, it’s special for both programs and both universities,” Ewers said. “Yeah, that stadium is going to be rocking. It’s going to be awesome.”