No. 23 Texas A&M
(2-1, 0-1 SEC) will head to Baton Rouge this week to take on No. 10 LSU (2-1, 0-1 SEC) after last Saturday's disastrous 31-21 loss to Kentucky, which unsurprisingly sent negative vibes throughout College Station, which have yet to dissipate, while the Tigers' emotional 32-24 road loss to Ole Miss placed new coach Lane Kiffin and his expensive roster in a similar hole to the Aggies.Turning the page, third-year coach Mike Elko and his roster, especially starting quarterback Marcel Reed, are completely focused on the Tigers and fully understand that the intense criticism from the fan base is warranted, especially after Kentucky built a 28-7 lead in the second half, shocking every Aggie in Kyle Field.
Texas A&M's roster is much too
talented to play below average football for the rest of the season, and while the defense, especially the defensive line and linebacker rotation, must play better, Marcel Reed needs to get out of his own head and play free, which shouldn't be an issue against LSU, a team he's personally dominated over the last two seasons.
On Wednesday, Mike Elko offered more insight into how he and the team have prepared this week in practice, while further defending Marcel Reed and discussing the program's continued search for a go-to identity, with the hope of playing with more physicality and focus this weekend.
Here is everything Mike Elko said during Wednesday's Aggie Football Hour.
Mike Elko with another honest take after the Kentucky loss
There's nothing else you can say, there's nothing else you can do – you have to own it. And you can't talk about anything else; it happened, we did it, we didn't play football to the standard we need to play it, and you have to move on, and that's all you can do. …
"One of the best things about life is you can learn lessons about how to get kicked in the face and how to keep going and get up. … That's what happened: we got kicked in the face, and now we've got to get up and go to Baton Rouge and we've got to pull it together."
Elko continues to defend QB Marcel Reed
“Just because he missed a throw, just because he didn’t play the game he wanted to play, just because it didn’t go to script, let’s be careful that we don’t lose faith in the guy who has led us to an awful lot of victories and been really, really successful as our quarterback, because he has, and that’s just the reality of it.
“People can say whatever they want, and they can clip whatever they want, and they can put whatever little bit of evidence on film that they want, but he’s been a really, really successful quarterback at Texas A&M. People better not forget that.”
More on Marcel Reed
“He’s the fifth-winningest quarterback in Texas A&M football history. He’s seventh in passing yards in Texas A&M football history. So yes, he was the quarterback in a couple of the games that we lost. But so too was every quarterback at Texas A&M in a couple of games that they lost. And I’m quite sure that all of them, in conjunction with the head coach, were the reason why they lost those games.”
Elko on the team's focus this week
"There are things that have to happen for us to get a result Saturday night, but there's not a single person in our program that's not working their tail off to have a better result Saturday night."
Elko on the loss of WR Terry Bussey for the season
"That's a kid who is really beloved in our locker room. I think a lot of kids rally around him. You hate it for the kid, with how hard he has worked and everything he's put into it."
Elko on Texas A&M's lack of identity
"We're still trying to find our identity…we have a style that we want to play. We have a standard that we want to play to. To get there, there is still some work to be done. We want to be a phyiscal team. We want to be a team that can control the line of scrimmage."
Elko on the importance of strong relationships
"You have to be relationship-based in this sport, because everything that you're asking these kids to do is unnatural… relationships matter and their willingness to put it on the line for you based on how they feel about you is really, really important."
Elko on trusting the process after a tough loss
"I don't know that you can ensure that it doesn't linger, but I think you have a process to how you go back to work…you have a process to what it looks like to grow and get better. You have to believe in that process and you have to go to work at it."
Elko on facing LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt
"Our ability to contain him is going to be such a critical piece of this game. Our ability to impact him and affect him, pressure him will play such a big role. We got to be really, really sound in what we're doing on defense this week."
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This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: Everything Mike Elko said during Aggie Football Hour before facing LSU
