Texas A&M (4-5, 1-5 SEC) heads back to Kyle Field for the second-to-last time this season, set to host No. 8 Tennessee for the first time since the 2016 season, as third-year coach Mike Elko is determined to rewrite the narrative that his team isn't playing with consistent effort, knowing that the last two losses to Alabama and South Carolina could have gone the other way.
One of the Aggies' biggest issues on offense, aside from first-year OC Holmon Wiggins' play-calling, has been senior quarterback Marcel Reed's inconsistency in the pocket, despite showing improvement against South Carolina, leading the offense to several red zone opportunities, but for the third time in SEC play, failing to score a touchdown.
These issues stem from poor play-calling
and Marcel Reed's decision-making; the Aggies rank 110th nationally in red zone efficiency, converting 79.5% of their opportunities, which has mostly resulted in field goals from transfer kicker David Olano.
While moving on from Holmon Wiggins and giving a younger staff member a shot with three games remaining was the expected move, Mike Elko's decision to keep Wiggins for the rest of the season placed more pressure on his shoulders, starting with facing Tennessee's defense on Saturday, which he discussed during Wednesday's Aggie Football Hour.
“I think we’ve worked really, really hard to kind of get ourselves playing better football, putting ourselves in better positions to have success. Now we’ve got to finish,” said Elko on Wednesday. “We’ve got to finish everything. We’ve got to finish drives. We got to finish games. We got to figure out a way to make our progress show up on the scoreboard the way it needs to for us to get the result we want in front of our fans.”
Elko added that he and the rest of the offensive coaching staff have focused on executing inside the 20-yard line, noting that the Aggies' lack of touchdowns isn't due to practice issues. "It’s extremely disappointing, because I think we do more situational football than most.”
From a play-calling perspective, I don't expect things to change much under Holmon Wiggins, meaning a similar game plan to last Saturday's 17-9 loss to South Carolina is expected, which led to over 450 yards and over 200 yards on the ground.
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This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: Mike Elko looks to fix Texas A&M's red zone woes over next three games
