Mike Elko Knows How To Prevent a Repeat of Texas A&M's Early Playoff Exit

2025 gave the Texas A&M Aggies their best season in recent memory, which saw the team compile a near-perfect regular season record and its first double-digit season since Johnny Manziel's Heisman Trophy campaign in 2012.

However, just as it seemed as though their spark of success was about to ignite into something bigger, it was instead quickly blown out first by the Texas Longhorns in the regular season finale in Austin and then by the Miami Hurricanes in the first round of the College Football Playoff at Kyle Field.

But how can a team with so much momentum built up over the course of a season lose steam so quickly at the conclusion?

Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko seems to have that answer.

"That's What We Didn't Do in the Playoff Game"

Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko reacts during the first quarter during the first round of the CFP National Playoff against the Miami Hurricanes at Kyle Field. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

In a press conference on Thursday, the coach took to the stand and offered an explanation for the switch that flipped in the wrong direction for the Maroon and White in late November and December.

"We've got to continue to be the team that steps up and makes those winning plays in those moments," Elko said. "That's what we did in those games, and that's what we didn't do in the playoff game."

As every Aggie fan knows, that playoff game ended with an interception thrown by quarterback Marcel Reed during a potential game-tying drive against the Hurricanes that went right into the hands of freshman defensive back Bryce Fitzgerald to seal the game and the A&M season.

"The more parity sets in, which it clearly is, and the more that the top comes down a little bit and the bottom comes up, it's going to come down to winning plays," the head coach said.

Reed and the Aggies showed that they were capable of executing those winning plays in crunch time last year, most notably with a touchdown connection between the quarterback and tight end Nate Boerkircher on fourth-and-goal with 10 seconds left in A&M's 41-40 upset victory on the road against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The team also showed that they had the ability to flip the script of a game themselves in the form of a 27-point comeback against the South Carolina Gamecocks, the biggest in school history, to stay perfect in their final conference win of the campaign.

The pressure clearly got to the team in Austin, as back-to-back interceptions by Reed allowed the Longhorns to spoil the Ags' run at a perfect regular season with a 27-17 win, and the aforementioned pick against Miami put the season to rest entirely.

However, we saw how the team came back from their collapse in the 2024 season that saw them lose four of their final five games after embarking on a seven-game winning streak, and now that the team has the necessary experience in the big games that many believed that they lacked, this upcoming year could be quite the eye-opener for not only the SEC, but the rest of the nation as well.

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