Texas A&M is getting ready to kick off a 2026 season that already feels loaded with expectation, but Mike Elko is just as focused on what’s happening around the sport as what’s happening in College Station.
With Week Zero set to start this upcoming weekend, the Aggies have to wait an extra week to begin their season. Even so, the bigger issue in Elko’s eyes is the uncertainty hanging over college football itself. Between multiple court orders, temporary restraining orders and questions about who is actually eligible to play, he made it clear he thinks the sport’s leadership has dropped the ball.
College football’s last few months have been marked by confusion, including TROs that have opened the door for more eligibility for the class of 2022 and rulings involving players who were on active NFL rosters but were allowed back into college football. The result, Elko said, is a mess that has left teams without clear answers only days before the season.
“There's a game tonight, there's a game Saturday, and we're not even really sure what the rules are around who can play on our teams this fall,” Elko said, speaking on the situation college football finds itself in. “I think that if you want a statement about where we are as an overall governance structure, that's where we are.”
Texas A&M isn’t directly dealing with the eligibility rulings, since its roster does not include any players who needed a TRO to be eligible in 2026. But that doesn’t mean the Aggies can ignore the issue. They’re likely to run into teams with affected players, including an early Sept. 26 matchup with LSU.
That’s where the uncertainty can turn into a real problem. If players are cleared under one ruling and later the decision shifts, it could leave teams in a difficult spot and create a messy situation around games already on the schedule.
For Elko, the frustration is less about one school and more about the lack of clarity across the sport. He said there’s no telling when it will all get sorted out, and that uncertainty may be the biggest issue of all.
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