Mike Elko identifies value of playing marquee games early in season

With Mike Elko taking over the reins at Texas A&M, he is now coaching under a much bigger spotlight than he was at Duke.

Texas A&M typically has a handful of prime-time games each season, and in 2024, it is no different. The Aggies will start the year with a huge season opener against Notre Dame. During the SEC spring meetings, the Aggies head coach shared his thoughts on early-season marquee matchups.

“Yeah, so it’s interesting we went through this a little bit last year,” Elko started. “Obviously, [it’s] a different perspective on our end going against Clemson in the opener, but that was a huge national spotlight for Duke, and that was something that we were dealing with for the first time. So I think maybe prepared a little bit.”

At Duke last season, Elko started the year with a seismic season opener at home against ACC power Clemson. Under his leadership, the Blue Devils rose to the occasion studying the college football world by dominating the then No. 20 ranked Tigers, beating them 28-7. That got the ball rolling for an exciting year of football for Duke.

Elko on the benefits of early-season marquee matchups

As Elko continued, he highlighted the advantages of playing a big game early in the season rather than later in the year.

“Some of the benefits of it you see really quickly, one: getting the kid’s attention,” Elko said. “You go through these dog days of summer, and kids naturally tend to lose focus a little bit. When you have a big matchup like that in your opener, and you have a spotlight like that, it’s really easy to draw them back and get them kind of locked into what you need to get done.”

“So I think it helps from that perspective; it helps with your preparation in camp. The kids are really excited for what’s coming. They know they can’t waste days. As opposed to the other way, where the big game is week 3, and they know they’ve got a little bit of a lede into the season— it’s a little bit harder to keep them focused on the level you always want to.”

As Elko highlighted, there are plenty of positives of playing a marquee matchup early in the season. And when it comes to the college football selection committee, they’ve had a tendency in recent years to somewhat devalue a loss to start the season over one down the stretch.

With him now taking over at Texas A&M, Elko will get his opportunity to coach in plenty of marquee matchups. And for his money the Aggies head coach appears to be a little more fond of kicking off the season with a bang like Texas A&M will do this year when they play Notre Dame on August 31.