Mike Elko takes issue with ‘gloomy’ questions after win over Auburn
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The Texas A&M Aggies are 4-0 for the first time since 2016. They got there thanks to an incredible defensive performance in a 16-10 victory versus the Auburn Tigers. Head coach Mike Elko expected to talk about his defense when he stepped up to the mic postgame, but was greeted with concern about his offense instead.
Early in his postgame press conference, Elko chastised the media for focusing on the Aggies’ low point total. Clearly agitated, he seemingly tried making light of the situation by alluding to a rant from LSU’s Brian Kelly in Week 3 before moving to another question.
“Does anybody want to ask a question about… ‘how did the defense bounce back [from the Notre Dame game]?’ Or… ‘you held them to 176 yards on offense… had 5 sacks and they were 0-for-12 on 3rd down… and you got the return game going again?'” Elko asked. “I don’t mean to sound like someone else, but my gosh, will you guys stop being so dreadful and gloomy?”
By no means was Texas A&M’s offense bad on Saturday. The Aggies recorded 414 yards of offense — 207 apiece through the air and on the ground. They out-possessed Auburn by roughly 8 minutes (34:06-25:54) and picked up 21 first downs. However, they were not good on 3rd down (3/14; 21.5%) and missed 2 field goals. These shortcomings left the door open for the Tigers to potential steal the game in the final minutes.
Texas A&M put up more 40-plus points in each of their first 3 games of the season. Treating Saturday’s game like a one-off, from a coaching perspective, is understandable. If the same problems persist next week versus Mississippi State, though, Elko and Co. will need to take a deeper look into things. Kickoff between the Aggies and Bulldogs is 7:30 p.m. E.T. (SEC Network) on Oct. 4.
