Texas A&M Head Coach Mike Elko Sends Clear Message To Aggies Fan Base

The Texas A&M Aggies are on fire, and show no sign of slowing down.

Sitting at No. 3, Texas A&M is in a favorable spot to make the College Football Playoff, barring a major collapse similar to what happened in 2024. In year two of the Mike Elko era in College Station, fans should expect nothing short of greatness.

Ahead of the Aggies’ Saturday road bout against the No. 19 Missouri Tigers, coach Elko spoke to Pat McAfee regarding his team’s sustained success.

Mike Elko on Pat McAfee

Pat McAfee on the Pat McAfee Show set on Radio Row at the Super Bowl LIX media center. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

A lot of the Aggies’ success falls on quarterback Marcel Reed, who burst onto the scene following a 2024 injury to then-quarterback Conner Weigman and never looked back. With four weeks remaining in the 2025 season, Reed has accumulated 1,972 passing yards, 17 passing touchdowns, six interceptions, 349 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns, enough to thrust him into the Heisman Trophy conversation.

"We had seen the development,” Elko said on The Pat McAfee Show. ”We knew what he was capable of becoming. He can go out and make things happen with his athleticism. It's hard to argue there's a quarterback out there who's been better in big moments this year."

Around this point last season, the Aggies suffered an extreme meltdown as they dropped four of their last five games to effectively end their season. After a hot start, the Fightin’ Farmers knew how to win and carried that formula into 2025.

"We felt like we had a chance to take a huge step forward as a program," Elko said. "Last year we had a great first two months, but we didn't finish it the right way. We had a great offseason and went into the season confident we could have a good year."

Despite the success, Texas A&M fans are still experiencing “battered Aggie syndrome,” a phenomenon known as Texas A&M fans expecting failure no matter how unlikely. Elko has done his best to put an end to the epidemic and encourages fans to enjoy the success while it lasts.

"Everybody wants to figure out how come this part isn't perfect," Elko said. "The biggest thing that I've tried to get our fanbase and media around is that it's hard to win football games. We won on the road against a top 10 team for the first time since 1979. We won in Baton Rouge for the first time since 1994. We're 8-0 for the first time since 1994. Those are long times ago, so let's take a step back and enjoy that we're winning."