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Mike Elko shreds Texas A&M defense after Las Vegas Bowl loss to USC
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Mike Elko was understandably disgusted with his defense after Texas A&M fell 35-31 to USC in the Las Vegas Bowl, giving up 4 touchdowns on the final 5 possessions, choking away a 17-point lead.
“We’ve got to be able to stop the run and pressure the quarterback. We didn’t do that,” Elko said after the loss.
USC’s ground game did not exactly gash the Aggies. The Trojans rushed 31 times for 105 yards with 1 rushing score. The longest runs were only of the 12- and 14-yard variety from Bryan Jackson (16 carries, 66 yards, TD) and A’Marion Peterson (12 carries, 43 yards).
Pressuring the quarterback, however, was an issue.
USC QB Jayden Maiava was only sacked once, a 13-yard loss that caused him to finish with negative rushing yards (3 carries, -4 yards). The Aggies, though, did not register a QB hurry. Maiava finished 22-of-39 passing for 295 yards with 4 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Three of Maiava’s passing touchdowns came in the final 19 minutes of the game, as USC scored 4 times to overcome a 24-7 deficit for a 35-31 win.
The Las Vegas Bowl loss meant Texas A&M dropped 4 of its final 5 games, with the only win coming to a non-Power opponent. Elko was able to find optimism for 2025, at the expense of his defense.
“I won’t watch the defense play like this ever again,” Elko told reporters.
Elko has a defensive background, having previously served as A&M’s defensive coordinator (2018-21) before returning to College Station as the head coach of the Aggies. Linebackers coach Jay Bateman served as Texas A&M’s defensive coordinator for the 2024 season.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
