Mike Elko‘s first year being the head coach of Texas A&M had been full of bittersweet memories. Holding an overall 8-4 and 5-3 in the SEC conference doesn’t seem disappointing to his fans. Their graph went up after a 38-23 victory over LSU earlier this October. However, the fairytale ended with losing two out of their last three SEC games and finally losing a much hyped-about rivalry game against the Texas Longhorns on Saturday night. What does Mike Elko say after this blunder?

When Mike Elko addressed the media after the game, he seemed emotional and heavy-hearted, as he was freshly out of a heartbreaking 7-17 loss to the Longhorns. When one of the reporters asked him about their three-game losing streak in the SEC, he responded by saying, “Losing our last three conference games and not being able to close the deal and go into Atlanta? Yeah? I mean, it su-ks. I mean, there’s no sugarcoating it. There’s no software around it. We had our opportunities, and we didn’t get done. And so it’s disappointing.”

At least he’s more honest than those who blame injured players for their losses. Our man just straightforwardly admitted some mistakes that they made. But Aggies fans were sad to watch what was said to be the biggest game of the year. Moving forward, one of the media people asked him about their overall performance this season and how Elko is seeing it.

“I mean in terms of how we made forward strides, this is a night and day situation from where we were a year ago at this time. Anybody who knows the inside of this program knows that and is confident in the direction this thing’s headed. But that doesn’t change the fact that we had an opportunity to do something really special this year, and then we couldn’t close on it, and so you know that a haunted me that’ll haunt us, that’ll haunt the players,” the HC said. He highlighted the team’s progress but didn’t shy away from the sting of a missed opportunity, admitting, “We just didn’t get it done.”

Disappointment and sorrow were dropping from every word that came out of Elko’s mouth. However, the man was a little satisfied when he recalled their last year’s record. Under Texas A&M’s most recent head coach, Jimbo Fisher, the Aggies faced a poor 4-4 record in the conference and a 7-6 overall record for the 2023 season. Elko is just happy that they are not continuing with that, and they have come a long way holding an 8-4 overall record for this season. With that, let’s see what went wrong for the Aggies as they fell against the Longhorns.

Texas Longhorns crushed Mike Elko’s dream season

Texas A&M’s fall to the Texas Longhorns wasn’t just a defeat; instead, it was full of offensive mistakes. Their offense was stagnant, and their last-ditch effort failed miserably. Initially, A&M could not grab any big stuff with three failed fourth-down attempts! This added to a pathetic decision to skip a field goal for a touchdown. Well, what was their offense even doing?

A&M managed only 248 yards over 57 plays, and that was obvious to crush against a team like Texas. The only good thing that happened with them was Will Lee’s insane pick-6. Yeah, Lee’s 93-yard run after Quinn Ewers deflected pass gave them a little momentum for a few minutes, and except for that, they got nothing.

Their defense was also not something to be proud of, as the Aggies could not handle Texas’s run game. Quintrevion Wisner rocked the field, racking up 186 yards on a massive 33 carries. Adding a cherry on top, Arch Manning’s 15-yard rushing TD was just the start for things to fall into their hands.

On the other hand, Texas A&M let the first half go underwater. 17-0 at halftime was just embarrassing. They did force a few turnovers, particularly Quinn Ewers’s interception and a fumble, but they didn’t result in any points. A blocked punt and a dominant Texas defense shut down Mike Elko’s team.