Everything Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko said after South Carolina's 44-20 home win

Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko spoke to the media following the Aggies’ road loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks. Here’s what Elko had to say following the 44-20 defeat:

[See the Gamecock discussion on The Insiders Forum!]

Opening Statement

“Hats off to South Carolina. They beat us on the line of scrimmage, both sides of the ball. Controlled the game, forced turnovers, couldn’t run the ball, couldn’t tackle, couldn’t control the quarterback, so we didn’t do any of the things you need to do to win a football game, and so that’s why we lost.”

“We’ve got to get better, we’ve got to fix them, and we’ve got to not ever play like that again.”

On the team’s tackling difficulties against South Carolina

“Obviously, I don’t want to sit up here and say it’s all us, because you have to give them credit. I’m not going to be the coach that gives them no credit. They’ve got a  big quarterback, he’s 240 pounds, big running back, he’s 230 pounds.”

“We didn’t bring our feet, we didn’t tackle the way you need to, to tackle big backs. They’re big, powerful, kids. If you want to tackle big, powerful, kids, you have to bring your body through the tackle, and we didn’t do that tonight.”

[Join GamecockCentral: $1 for the first week]

On decisions to go for it on fourth downs

“It was fourth and inches, fourth and half a yard, both of them that we went for. We’re going to do that, and that’s something that we’re going to do, you know. We really haven’t been in that situation before, but we have to get half a yard.”

On penalties committed by the Aggies

“I told them, they had a couple areas, the missed tackles had been growing and growing, sometimes the hardest thing to is learn in victory. You know, it gets covered up and it gets masked up, and so I think some of the things that have been behind the scenes and we’ve been playing and winning through, certainly showed up tonight in a really bad way so that’s on me.”

“You know, that’s my job as a coach, is to get them to understand that to the level they need to understand it to fix it. And I didn’t do that, and so that’s on me.”

[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Missouri football game]

On gaining momentum heading into halftime

“I don’t know that I ever thought we had control, you know, I thought we should have come into the locker room with the lead. The two penalties on the two minute drive, we just gifted them three points to tie the game up.”

“To some degree, that gave them the momentum back, we had stormed back, we had taken the lead. I thought we did a really good job managing the clock at the end of the first half, left them very little time to go down the field.”

“We gave them, what, 35-40 yards of penalties, 25-30 yards in penalties, on that drive, and we just gifted them a field goal. Obviously, at 20-20, you still felt like you had a chance. You know, we misfed a run and on 4th and 1 they break it for a long touchdown, you know that’s a killer.”

“And then we don’t get the fourth and half a yard, and we’re able to go out and hold them to a field goal, but that’s a killer. At that point we’re still battling. And then it just gets to a point where we’re playing more of an all-out defense to try and stop them from running the ball, and they pop a long one and put the game away.”

[On3 App: Get South Carolina push notifications from GamecockCentral]

On the performance of Marcel Reed

I mean, it’s certainly up and down some. We’re not built to play that type of game, we can’t get behind like that in the second half. And so once it got to that point and we weren’t able to play the game that we’re better at, I think that really hurt us.”

“But again, he’s still a young kid, he’s learning, he’s getting better. He’s got to be a little bit more careful with the football, obviously. The interception on the first down, that was obviously a huge momentum swing, I think we were down ten at that point. He’s got to learn, but certainly not on him, any of the game. There were a lot of other things, starting with me, that caused us to lose this football game.”

On if Marcel Reed is the starter moving forward

“He’s the starter now, and we’ll see where we go.”

On the impact of losing Le’Veon Moss

“Obviously, Le’Veon is a great back. Not having him in was tough, we’ll see. I don’t think it looks real good right now, but I don’t think it maybe looks as bad as it might have on the field. So hopefully it’s not one of those awful ones, but I do think he’ll be out for a while.”

[Newsletters: Get breaking news and analysis from GamecockCentral]

On if the team lost any focus after the win against LSU

“No.”

On if it feels like the season goals are still on the table

“It feels like it because it is. We’re tied for first, we still control our own destiny to Atlanta. We still control our own destiny to the playoff, it very much feels like it because it is.”

On missed tackle opportunities on Sellers

It felt like we were close to getting him a bunch of times, I think we got him none, so that’s why I’m chuckling. He’s a big kid, obviously I did a poor job of getting my kids to understand how you have to tackle a 240-pound kid. We kept trying to go up high around him, and he’s too strong for that.”

Discuss South Carolina football on The Insiders Forum!