Mike Elko reveals 'big picture' area Texas A&M can improve in 2025

In his first year at Texas A&M, Mike Elko’s Aggies were on pace for the SEC Championship. They had a 5-0 record in league play entering November, but lost their final three conference games.

Now in Year 2, Elko said there were a few “big picture” lessons to take away from the 2024 season. More specifically, he thinks his team is better equipped to handle high expectations late in the year.

Elko acknowledged last year’s success, which included a seven-game winning streak after a Week 1 loss to Notre Dame. But the last three games in particular, he sees areas Texas A&M can improve. This season, he thinks the Aggies will be ready if the expectations grow once again.

“There’s two things that can be true,” Elko said on SiriusXM College Sports Radio. “We had a really good first year, in the big scope of it all. We had the third-best first year of any active SEC coach currently in the conference, and that was coming off two years where we haven’t been very good as a program. When you look at the big picture of it, we did a lot of really good things last year. When you look specifically at the last three games, we didn’t finish the way we wanted to, and I think there’s a lot that goes into that.

“I think we put ourselves in [a] position that we haven’t been in – competing as a front-running team down the stretch with really, really important games. Now, it’s learning. It’s learning how to handle those situations. It’s learning how to be the hunted team in November and trying to do everything we can to get back in that situation so we can prove that we’ve made the necessary adjustments to handle it better.”

Texas A&M was picked eighth in the SEC preseason poll this year, but have one of the league’s more intriguing quarterbacks coming back. Marcel Reed will be the full-time starter for Mike Elko’s group this year and got off to a roaring start in Week 1 against UTSA. He went 22-of-34 for 289 passing yards and four touchdowns while leading the Aggies with 39 rushing yards on the ground, as well.

Texas A&M will look to build on that performance this week when Utah State comes to town. Then, the Aggies will have a rematch against Notre Dame in Week 3 – this time in South Bend at Notre Dame Stadium.