Texas A&M Head Coach Mike Elko Addresses SEC Referees in Hilarious Way

The Texas A&M Aggies are one of the hottest teams in college football right now. They are fresh off of an impressive win over the Notre Dame Fightin’ Irish and a gritty victory against the Auburn Tigers, and look like official National Championship contenders.

One thing that will eventually hold the Aggies back, unless they nip it in the bud quickly, are the amount of penalties the team has been accumulating. Against Notre Dame, Texas A&M committed 13 penalties, resulting in a loss of 86 yards. Against Auburn, the Aggies recorded 13 penalties for 119 yards.

While taking the penalties as a serious issue, Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko has made light of the situation and recognizes that it is not just the Aggies in their situation.

Mike Elko vs Penalties

Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko speaks with a game official during the second quarter against the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium. | John Reed-Imagn Images

"I think the officials do an unbelievable job,” Elko said sarcastically at the weekly Aggie Football Hour. They're the best thing we have in the SEC. It's a consistent performance week in and week out. I'm just blessed to have them on the football field."

Against Auburn, the Aggies were not the only team that racked up the yellow laundry. The Tigers also committed 10 penalties for 69 yards.

"It's something that we have to get fixed and addressed," Elko said of the infractions. "We won't continue to win games if we don't solve that problem."

With penalties becoming an issue that has spanned multiple weeks, Elko shared a rather comical plan to get players to be more mindful of them.

"Alright, so I'll let you guys in on it," Elko said to the media. "I've tried all kinds of things, so today what we started was the Texas A&M football coaches' Cabo fund. So what's going to happen now is, every time one of our players gets a penalty, they are going to contribute to the coaches' Cabo fund. So we will see if that works."

Although the Aggies have been able to get away with winning despite the high penalty numbers, it simply is not sustainable. In Death Valley, they will not be able to lose 100-plus yards and expect to beat LSU. The same thing goes for the Texas Longhorns in the last game of the regular season. The quicker the Aggies can get more disciplined, the better.

The Aggies are set to host the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Saturday at Kyle Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Central, with fans encouraged to wear white.