It would be easy to dismiss talk about the mood around Texas A&M football getting any darker. This program has lived through the Jimbo Fisher ending, with that massive buyout hanging over everything until the Aggies finally made the move. The Kevin Sumlin era had its own share of frustration, and plenty of the 21st century has been spent bouncing between hope and the kind of steady mediocrity that turned “Texas 8-4” into a punch line.
And yet this feels different.
Mike Elko gave Texas A&M a glimpse of what the ceiling could look like. An 11-1 regular season and a College Football Playoff appearance in Year 2 changed the conversation around the program.
The losses to Texas and Miami at the end of that run stung, sure, but they didn’t wipe away the progress. For the first time in a while, the Aggies looked like they were becoming the program they had long insisted they could be.
That’s what makes what’s happening now so jarring.
Texas A&M is 3-3 overall and 1-3 in the SEC after a 27-6 beatdown at the hands of Missouri. The offense managed just 216 yards, rushed for only 29, and never found the end zone.
Even more startling, the Aggies had only two first downs through the first three quarters. For a team that came into the season with playoff hopes, that is a brutal place to land.
Afterward, Elko didn’t try to dress it up. He said Texas A&M was “not nearly good enough” and said the program has to go back to the drawing board. That much is hard to dispute.
There are plenty of places to look when trying to figure out how things got so sideways. Marcel Reed was expected to be the centerpiece of an offense ready to take another step, but his regression has become one of the season’s defining issues.
Collin Klein’s departure changed the structure around him, and the roster turnover has clearly created problems too. Elko isn’t off the hook either, because all of it eventually lands on the head coach.
The problem is that there doesn’t seem to be an easy fix waiting in the wings.
Texas A&M does not need talk about some magical finish to 9-3. It needs a real answer for how a roster with this much talent ended up looking incapable of even scoring a touchdown against Missouri.
Elko also pushed back after the loss against some of the negativity aimed at the program and the people saying it online. Sure, there are always voices that go too far.
But frustration with this Texas A&M team is hardly out of bounds. The Aggies opened the year expecting to contend and, halfway through the season, they look like a team still trying to figure out who it is.
A year ago, Texas A&M seemed to have found its path.
Six games into this season, that path looks a lot murkier.
In Other News...
Collin Klein Just Became Part Of Texas A&M's Growing Problem
Texas A&Ms slide has become harder to explain away after a 27-6 loss to Missouri added another lopsided conference defeat to a season that already looks nothing like the programs 2025 College Football Playoff run. The contrast is jarring for a team that was supposed to keep building under Mike Elko after he replaced Jimbo Fisher in late 2023, especially with the coach now backed by a contract extension and salary increase while the results keep moving in the wrong direction.
Marcel Reeds regression has been part of the problem, but the offensive picture only looks messier when you consider what Collin Klein is doing at Kansas State after leaving College Station. The former Aggies offensive coordinator is thriving in his new role, which only sharpens the questions around where A&Ms attack has gone off track and how many more fixes this staff can afford to keep searching for before the pressure really turns up. [Read more 🡒]
Mike Elko Just Added To The Heat Around Texas A&Ms 3-3 Start
Texas A&Ms 27-6 loss to No. 14 Missouri left the Aggies sitting at 3-3, a mark that has already turned up the pressure on Mike Elko in College Station. The defeat added another frustrating chapter to a start that has been uneven enough on its own, with the offense stuck and the margin for error shrinking as the schedule moves forward.
Elko then added another layer to the noise after the game, criticizing the TexAgs fan community in his postgame press conference and calling it Billys cesspool. It was the kind of comment that can hang around long after the score is forgotten, especially with The Citadel coming to town next Saturday and the questions around this team only growing louder. [Read more 🡒]
Texas A&Ms Offense Has A Much Bigger Problem Than One Bad Game
Texas A&Ms offense left a lot to sort through after a rough road showing that never really found a rhythm. Through three quarters, the Aggies had not even cracked 100 yards, and the problems were layered: quarterback play was off, penalties kept derailing possessions, the run game never got going and the offensive line still looked unsettled.
The defense did its part for long stretches, but it could only cover for so much while the offense stalled around it. Scoring only 12 points in road games so far this season is the kind of trend that turns one bad night into a bigger concern, especially with tougher opponents still ahead and little margin for error if the Aggies want the season to stay on track. [Read more 🡒]