Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko: "Hats off to them because they physically annihilated us"
In the long-anticipated return of the Texas-Texas A&M rivalry, the Texas Longhorns secured a decisive 17-7 victory over Texas A&M in a game that was more lopsided than the final score suggests. After the loss, Aggies head coach Mike Elko addressed his team’s shortcomings, acknowledging significant struggles on both sides of the ball.
[Join Inside Texas TODAY and get ONE WEEK for just $1]
Elko began by praising the 12th Man fanbase, but his tone quickly turned dour when discussing the team’s performance.
“In terms of the game, defensively, just not good enough in the run game,” Elko admitted. “Way too many rushing yards. Didn’t win the line of scrimmage, didn’t really fit things particularly well, weren’t good enough on third down, didn’t do the things we needed to do to get off the field.”
In the perpetual search for sliver linings, Elko highlighted his team’s resilience, particularly in the second half. “We showed tremendous heart and fight to continue to battle and gave ourselves a lot of chances in that second half to win with just grit and toughness.”
However, his assessment of the offense was even more critical. “Offensively, we lost the line of scrimmage all night,” Elko said. “We weren’t able to get anything going. Really disappointing. We just didn’t play well on offense at all to have a chance at having success.”
Texas A&M’s inability to control the line of scrimmage was a recurring theme in Elko’s remarks, and he didn’t mince words when describing the physical dominance of the Longhorns.
Top 10
- 1New
Ryan Day
Ross Bjork addresses job security
- 2
Bielema responds to Kiffin
Illini HC uses Kiffin for CFP case
- 3
OSU/Michigan fined
Big Ten levies fines for brawl
- 4Hot
AP Poll Top 25
Big movement in latest Top 25
- 5
Neal Brown
WVU set to fire HC
“Tonight we got way too many mis-fits, way too many lack of leverage, way too many, just simple execution errors, and they’re good, they’re talented,” Elko said. “Hats off to them because they physically annihilated us.”
The Aggies’ struggles in the run game were particularly glaring. Elko pointed out that Texas controlled the edges and stymied A&M’s rushing attack, leaving the offense with little room to maneuver.
“We tried a lot of different things, none of it worked,” he said. “When you can’t win the line of scrimmage and your running back is averaging 1.6 yards a carry, it’s going to make it really hard. We had runs against light boxes, and we couldn’t block the edges. The edges absolutely dominated us tonight. Made it really hard.”
[Subscribe to the Inside Texas YouTube channel!]
Texas entered the game with arguably the best defense in the country. That argument became even stronger after holding A&M to less than 250 yards in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicates.
