Rest is over for Texas A&M football as they prepare for an SEC road showdown against the No. 23 South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday.
Entering Week 10, the Aggies boast a 4-4 overall record, including a 1-4 conference mark. The last time we saw Mike Elko's squad on the gridiron, they had No. 13 Alabama against the ropes in the fourth quarter, but allowed the Crimson Tide to storm back and claim a 31-20 win at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Texas A&M's playoff expectations faded quickly at the beginning of the season. Now, the program is facing an uphill climb just to achieve six wins and reach a bowl game. If the Aggies want to achieve that goal, it must start against a South Carolina team that is on a three-game conference winning streak with victories
over No. 25 Florida, No. 16 Tennessee and Oklahoma.
Here is everything Elko said during Monday's press conference ahead of Texas A&M's road trip to Columbia:
Elko's thoughts on his team's performance against Alabama
"I thought there were times in the Alabama game where we played football the way we would like to. Physicality has taken some steps forward on both sides of the football," Elko said. "We didn't finish the game, obviously, the way we would've wanted to or get it done in the fourth quarter the way we needed to be successful."
Elko on preparing his team for South Carolina during bye week
"More internal. A lot of it is internal. That is a big piece of bye weeks, always for us," Elko said. "I don't know about seven practices for South Carolina. It'll be too much by the end of the week, so most of it was internal."
Elko's thoughts on South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers
"Obviously playing right now at an elite level," Elko said. "We know firsthand how challenging he is to bring down. The perimeter is getting better with their comfort in the offense, so it has all improved tremendously over the last three weeks."
Elko on the offensive improvements being made
"One of the big things we have to get better at is conversion downs. We've been really bad in third-and-2-to-6," Elko said. "We've really had struggles in that third-and-2-to-6 range. We have to find ways to find cleaner pictures."
Elko's update on talented edge rusher Anto Saka
"He has been banged up quite a bit and missed time with a bunch of nagging things. Just getting healthy would be a huge thing for him," Elko said.
Elko on the quarterback rotation and if Brady Hart will see an uptick in reps
"We're probably more balanced than most people in terms of how we rep things. We don't have that 1s and 2s thing the way other people talk about it," Elko said. "There's a lot more of 1.5 reps where all of your guys in the two-deep are rotating through. We think Brady gets a ton of opportunities to show where he's at."
Elko says Hart must show he's ready to challenge for QB1
"The challenge to him has been if you want opportunities, there is a level we need to see to be able to do that," Elko said.
Elko on representing Texas A&M and the inconsistency around college football
"Playing for the name on the front of your jersey still matters. That still plays a role, and the investment into the name on the back still matters," Elko said. "You're not looking around the country and seeing teams just not playing. You see a lot of up and down, a lot of inconsistency around college football."
Elko's early thoughts on South Carolina and why they are so dangerous
"South Carolina is really challenging because they do a good job of staying in third-and-managable, and LaNorris Sellers is such a weapon," Elko said. "The threat of him carrying the ball creates a lot of challenges. They've been so successful because he's such a weapon, and they're a unique challenge because of the quarterback."
Elko on self-scouting
"The days where the bye week is the self-scout week is long gone. You're self-scouting every week," Elko said. "It's continuing to find the moving target that we're in search of, to be more efficient and productive on offense and take away explosives on defense."
Elko on expectations around college football
"The ceiling is dropping, for sure, in college football, and the floor is rising. Because of that, you have much more competitive balance across the board, and when the balance is more competitive, explosives are harder to come by," Elko said.
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This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: 'LaNorris Sellers is such a weapon': Texas A&M HC previews South Carolina
