TAMU Aggies football coach Mike Elko achieved the first 8-0 season in year two at College Station following a 49-25 win over the LSU Tigers in Death Valley under the lights. As CBS Sports’ David Cobb believes the win made the Aggies a legitimate title contender.
Cobb credited the halftime adjustments Elko made after TAMU went down 18-14 to LSU at halftime – adjustments that included a rushing touchdown from quarterback Marcel Reed, a punt return touchdown from KC Concepcion, and a Jamarion Morrow receiving touchdown from Reed.
“At long last, Texas A&M is no longer an empty bag of air just waiting to pop at the first sign of adversity. In Year 2 under Mike Elko, the No. 3 Aggies are the SEC title frontrunner and a top-tier national championship contender. That's what they showed in a 49-25 win at No. 20 LSU. Down 18-14 at halftime and with little going right, A&M regrouped and threw a series of haymakers that knocked the Tigers on their heels. The Aggies cut through the mythical status of Death Valley at night to reach 8-0 for the first time since 1992. Back then, Elko was a high schooler. Now he's leading a dormant college football power that is finally waking up and taking the sport by storm,” Cobb wrote.
The Aggies may have gotten Brian Kelly fired from LSU with the dominant win. They can dish out several more knockout blows to head coaches this season, with a chance to continue Shane Beamer’s fall from grace with the South Carolina Gamecocks and keep the Texas Longhorns out of the College Football Playoff and make the Steve Sarkisian conversation even more interesting.
Truthfully, though, the story isn’t about who TAMU has beaten.
The story may finally be the Aggies.
Elko is living proof that buyouts for head coaches who’ve lost the locker room are worth paying. TAMU has never looked more like a legitimate title contender, and not just a team in the next tier down.
We’ll see if the Aggies can finish the job against the Missouri Tigers, Gamecocks, Samford Bulldogs, and Longhorns after their upcoming bye week.