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Mike Elko doubles down on early season rant at Texas A&M: 'Let's enjoy the fact that we're winning'

FaceProfileby: Thomas Goldkamp20 hours ago
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© Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

Texas A&M coach Mike Elko went after the media a bit following his team’s win over Auburn earlier this season, accusing reporters of being ‘dreadful and gloomy.’ His rant quickly went viral.

Fast forward several weeks and Texas A&M is currently 8-0, ranked No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings. While the Aggies have hardly been perfect since that game against the Tigers, they’ve been plenty good enough.

And whatever media heat Elko was feeling then, perceived or real, has certainly simmered down. In fact, Elko can laugh about it now.

He joined the Pat McAfee Show on Thursday afternoon to discuss his program, and the show’s host gave him a friendly ribbing over the whole incident. Elko, with a big smile on his face, seemed much more at ease.

“Listen, the media is the media. You guys are a big part of it, too,” Elko said, jabbing back at McAfee in playful fashion. “No, it’s, listen, everybody wants to figure out how come this part’s not perfect, that part’s not perfect. I think the biggest thing that I’ve tried to get our fanbase and our media around is the fact that it’s hard to win football games.”

Again, Texas A&M has hardly been perfect. Plenty of folks would point to a 45-42 dogfight against Arkansas as evidence of that.

Yet the Aggies won. They keep cruising, the only unbeaten team remaining in the SEC, arguably the most difficult conference in the country.

“We’re doing things; you know, we won on the road against a top 10 team for the first time since 1979,” Elko said. “We won in Baton Rouge for the first time since 1994. We’re 8-0 for the first time since 19… like those are long times ago. I was not very much into coaching at that point.”

The point? It remains the same as when Elko made it back in late September after that 16-10 Texas A&M win over Auburn. Enjoy it.

Success does not come easy. And right now, Texas A&M is enjoying it in a way that few other programs are.

“So let’s just take a step back and let’s enjoy the fact that we’re winning and not just focus on the play in the second quarter that we didn’t do the right way and how that’s going to kill us if we move forward and we keep making those mistakes,” Elko said.