I’ll keep this short because I don’t want to sound like Mr. Doom and Gloom.

I love watching victories at Kyle Field. I had a wonderful time at Kyle Field on Saturday night. It’s always fun when the Aggies win regardless of the opponent.

Unfortunately, what I saw on Saturday does not give me warm fuzzies for the rest of the Aggie season. In fact, my optimism meter dropped a good bit.

What I saw on Saturday night was an offense that completely scrapped whatever it was trying to do in the previous games. They went out there and completely out-athlete their opponent.

I saw a head coach and coaching staff making sure they didn’t lose that game. I love the strategy for that one game, but I don’t love it for the remainder of the season. It was the right thing to do all things considered, but I don’t think it’s sustainable.

I don’t know if there’s another SEC win on this schedule. Sure, there’s probably one or two, but I don’t see much more than that.

The offense has no identity, and the defense still has massive holes.

Two bright spots stood out in the game. The freshman running back duo of KJ Edwards and Carsyn Baker. Edwards carried the ball 11 times for 66 yards and two scores. Baker got only 26 yards on 12 carries, but he ran tough, as that’s his role.

The other is obviously our placekicker. I had no idea you could get an accurate placekicker in college who also has a booming leg.

I don’t even want to break down the Arkansas game. It was a fun win, but I didn’t see anything to build on for the rest of the season. Sure, we need to become a more run-first team the rest of the way and stick to it. However, what I saw was an offense doing just enough to make sure they didn’t lose it.

In my mind, we should have racked up a whole lot more rushing yards. I don’t believe what we did on Saturday night will be enough to beat the rest of the SEC. We will play much better defenses, and they’ll shut down our running game and dare Marcel Reed to beat us. We know how that’ll work out.

I get why Elko did what he did, and I agree. I don’t think it’ll work against other SEC teams the rest of the way.

We made a massive mistake with our offseason offensive plan. I don’t think you can fix it in-season.

I hope I’m wrong, but we’ll see.

One play seemed like the microcosm of the entire season.

Kiotti Armstrong’s catch-and-run was the longest pass play of the year. That’s right, a 54-yard pass to our tight end is the longest pass play of the year, five games into the season.

Actually, it’s our longest play of the year. Five games in and we’ve had one play longer than 50 yards. That includes Missouri State. Ouch.

5 games in and one play over 50 yards. To a tight end on a busted defensive play by our opponent. Calling this an explosive offense would be entirely incorrect.

Not to take anything away from Armstrong, but the Arkansas defender who was supposed to cover him fell and left him wide open. Then, the Arkansas defensive back who could have tackled him or made a play on him wanted no part of him and whiffed on his tackle. I get it.

Then the microcosm of the season was when Armstrong was rumbling down the field, and another Arkansas defender tried to make a play on him. The problem was Isiah Horton quit blocking him and started celebrating. The defender gets to Armstrong and knocks him out of bounds at the two-yard line.

Then an Arkansas defender slips, leaving him wide open, and another Arkansas defender whiffs the tackle. Armstrong should have had a clear shot to the end zone, but Horton stops blocking and celebrates while that defender tries to get Armstrong out of bounds.

Elko talks about discipline and tenacity, but Horton sure didn’t show it on that play. He gave up blocking his man and then started celebrating while his defender knocked Armstrong out of bounds. Arkansas gave us a gift, and we couldn’t even fully deliver it.

One guy failing to play through the whistle stopped what could have been an absolute gift from the other team. I know it seems like a small thing and really didn’t matter, but it could absolutely matter in a bigger game. Horton should have had that Arkansas defender blocked until the end of the play. He sure shouldn’t have been celebrating.

That play, while exciting, tells me something’s missing from this team. The obvious seems like a lack of player leadership, but that’s always the excuse when teams are struggling.

Don’t get me wrong, player leadership absolutely matters in team sports. However, sometimes that’s instilled at the top.

Elko says he preaches discipline, but Horton was not disciplined on that play at all.

This team just doesn’t seem completely focused on every play. There are too many mental mistakes.

Hopefully I’m wrong, and the Arkansas game is truly a building block.

The Missouri Game:

I obviously haven’t paid much attention to Missouri this season. I knew they got Austin Simmons from Ole Miss. I assumed Eli Drinkwitz would do what he’s always done: beat the teams he should and lose to the teams he should.

I assumed A&M would have enough talent to beat them.

I watched the first half of their game against Florida, and I was wrong.

They’re a damn good football team.

Austin Simmons is a good quarterback, and they’ve got a great offense. I’m not sure they’ll annihilate the Aggie defense, but I think they’ll put up quite a few points.

They also have an infinitely better defense than I imagined. They currently have the 15th-ranked rushing defense in the country. That includes a game against Florida, which was ranked 11th in the country as a rushing offense.

For a team like the Aggies that really needs to establish the run, things don’t look good.

Couple all of that with an 11 a.m. road game, and I don’t like things for the Aggies.

What I thought would be a fairly reasonable win for the Aggies now looks daunting.

Then again, Elko has had his way with Drinkwitz at Missouri, so maybe that trend continues. I don’t see it happening.

How Does Elko Handle all of This?:

I hate to say it’s time to start looking at next season, but I don’t see a way out of where we are this season.

We’re not beating Texas, and we’re not beating Alabama. I don’t see how we beat Missouri.

If I’m right, we’re 7-5 at best. I hope I’m wrong, but that feels like the absolute best-case scenario right now.

That leaves games against South Carolina, Tennessee, and Oklahoma in question. Ironically, all of those games come in November. As any Battered Aggie knows, November has never been kind to the Fightin’ Texas Aggies.

South Carolina, despite their record and continuing to blow leads, has improved on offense under Kendall Briles. I believe they’ll absolutely put up more points than we score against their defense. Tennessee, while having plenty of holes, appears much better than Texas A&M right now.

Oklahoma is as bad as we are, but I can’t say we stand a good chance against them. It’ll come down to who plays better: Reed or Mateer.

With all that said, I know he can’t ever say it publicly, but I hope somewhere in a dark corner of the Bright Building, Mike Elko is concocting a plan to fire his entire offensive staff and get a new quarterback for the 2027 season.

Elko can’t trot out Marcel Reed or Brady Hart next season, even if it means losing Brady Hart. Elko has to get a seasoned quarterback in the portal.

This cleansing also includes Adam Cushing. I know Cushing gets rave reviews about an excellent offensive line coach, but I’m not seeing it. In almost three seasons, I’ve not seen anything close to a dominant offensive line. Sure, it hasn’t been Steve Addazzio bad, but it’s not been even close to dominant.

He had four guys drafted into the NFL, and they didn’t do anything against Texas or Miami when it mattered most.

This season’s offensive line has been very questionable, and I have to think Cushing had a big hand in signing off on these portal transfers. They’re big and slow. We missed on a couple of key linemen like Lance Heard and Jacarrius Peak in the transfer portal, so I’m not sure Cushing is an ace recruiter. I think he’s good, but it’s best we clean house on offense and let a new offensive coordinator build his staff the way he wants.

Speaking of transfers, it’s wild to me that we took two transfers who started on Alabama’s offense last year. Sure, it’s not a huge number, but it’s roughly 1/5 of Bama’s starting offense last year. The A&M offense can’t even find first gear, and the Bama offense hasn’t scored less than 38 points this season.

Why can’t the Aggies have nice things?

Back to what Elko has to do – Assuming things go where they appear headed, he has to admit he completely botched the offensive side of the ball this season. I’d say he’s actually botched it his entire time in Aggieland. We’re basically KC Concepcion away from a complete offensive meltdown under Elko.

Just think about what last year’s offense looks like without KC Concepcion and the perception of Elko coming into this season.

Actually, let’s look at Elko’s Texas A&M record against P4 opponents with and without KC Concepcion:

With KC: 8-2
Without KC: 7-7

He’s essentially a .500 coach against P4 opponents without KC Concepcion at Texas A&M. He’s an .800 coach with KC Concepcion.

I know some people want to look at his record pre- and post-extension, but I think it’s more important to look at his record without a game-changing offensive threat.

If you’re wondering, here’s his record pre- and post-extension:

Pre Extension: 12-5
Post Extension: 3-4

I know it doesn’t look good post-extension. And I wrote last week how foolish the extension was, but I think KC Concepcion inflated the pre-extension number. He’s 5-5 pre-extension without KC—a .500 coach.

One more quick thing on offensive threats. Would you believe me if I told you Mario Craver has never caught a touchdown in an SEC game in his time at Texas A&M? It’s true. He’s only caught touchdowns against Notre Dame and Arizona State as P4 opponents. That’s wild to me.

I love Mario Craver, but we’re either not utilizing his talent, or he’s simply Robin to Batman. It’s clear KC Concepcion was a Batman and Isiah Horton isn’t.

Elko is going to have to retool his offensive mindset in today’s college game totally. He’ll need a seasoned offensive coordinator he can hand the keys to. I’m talking up-tempo or innovative play caller with real skins. Not some ground-and-pound offense that complements the defense he wants to run.

It’s a different era, Mike. Jimno tried to win with trench ball, and he failed. You’re headed in the same direction unless you start recruiting the best offensive linemen and build a stable of running backs like Nick Saban did. I don’t see that happening in today’s NIL era.

You’ll have to win games with offensive innovation.

The obvious choice is Chip Kelly, but I’m not sure Kelly would come to A&M, and I’m not sure Elko could handle Kelly’s type of offense. Kelly helped Ohio State win a national championship two seasons ago, but I don’t think Elko could handle a guy like Chip Kelly.

If not Kelly, someone else can run a modern offense in today’s college game.

We don’t need to fire Mike Elko. We need to give Mike Elko the resources and force him to make uncomfortable decisions. We need him to grow and develop as a head coach. His way ain’t working right now. It doesn’t look like it ever will.

Mike Elko can grow and develop as a head coach if the higher-ups hold him accountable and push him. That’s where growth comes from. Settling in and being stubborn yields the same results.

That’s why we fired Jimbo.

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again – Most of the head coaches in college football are overrated. I think there’s a base level of head coach, and then it all comes down to their coordinators and quarterback.

My three elite-tier head coaches are Kirby Smart, Curt Cignetti, and Lane Kiffin.

I think there’s some promise with Will Stein and Eric Morris, but only time will tell how they do at lesser programs.

We can’t fire Elko due to financial reasons, but those are the only two guys I’d consider firing Elko for if money wasn’t a factor.

Everyone else behind them comes down to the program they’re at, along with their staff hires and quarterback. While Ryan Day and Steve Sarkisian are decent enough coaches, they happen to be at programs with huge resources and history, plus leadership willing to make decisions to win at the highest level. Those decisions mostly mean spending big bucks on elite coordinators and doing what it takes to get key players from the portal.

Mike Elko and the leadership at Texas A&M don’t think that way right now. They’re trying to play some level of Moneyball even though we crow about having resources on par with everyone else in the country.

Elko needs to drop the stubbornness about building an entire program from the ground up the way he thinks it can be. It hasn’t really worked in five seasons as a head coach.

Hire an elite-level offensive coordinator and give him the keys. You go back to work on your defense.

It’s the only realistic route I see out of where we are.

I hate to be already looking forward to next season, but it’s the reality.

Denying that you’re in a different place while being insane trying the same thing over and over, hoping for a different result, is a dangerous place to be.

BTHO Missouri

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