Everything Texas A&M HC Mike Elko had to say during Monday's press conference
Texas A&M's 2024 season opener vs. No. 7-ranked Notre Dame didn't turn out the way new head coach Mike Elko, his team, and the Aggie fan base hoped it would, but just like every loss, learning from every mistake is paramount to making progress and getting things back on track.
After a brief press conference on Saturday night, Elko apologized to the over 107,000 fans who packed Kyle Field, promising this was simply a blip on the radar and a part of the plan, as the new coaching staff deserves some grace amid their first season. However, starting quarterback Conner Weigman's epically bad performance has resulted in fans feeling sour toward the rest of the 2024 season.
Well, that's just a part of college football fandom, and all the Aggies can do now is win and continue winning, starting with hosting McNeese this weekend. Reflecting on the loss, Elko was joined by wide receiver Cyrus Allen, safety Marcus Ratcliffe, and Conner Weigman, who are looking forward to righting their wrongs. Here's what Mike Elko had to say on the afternoon.
Elko on getting back to the film room after the loss
"Obviously, wrapping up, not a whole lot different than my thoughts after the game. A disappointing loss."
"When you go back and watch the film, offensively, we struggled in the passing game. … It starts with us. We have to find some better ways to get our kids open."
Elko on Conner Weigman's footwork issues against Notre Dame
"It looked like his feet never got settled and that some of the residue of what happened in the past affected him. He had cleaner pockets than maybe he felt like."
"He's confident in the corrections that he needs to make. … It certainly isn't all on him."
Elko on the leaky defensive showing late in the game
"Defensively, for most of the game, we played the way we wanted to, but there were two critical situations where we didn't play our game."
Elko on needing to finding consistency defensively no matter the down and distance
"Second-and-off-schedule is probably the one down and distance that we struggled with the most."
Elko on Notre Dame's performance
"Hats off the Notre Dame. They made the plays to win it, and we didn't. Now, we have to go back to work and close that gap."
Elko disses TexAgs analyst Ryan Brauninger! It's all in jest
"R.C. Slocum is a distinguished alumnus of McNeese State. TexAgs' Ryan Brauninger is an alum -- I won't say distinguished -- of McNeese State."
Elko on McNeese's defense
"Defensively, they've been really good through two games. They're very similar, structure-wise, to what we do and the way we play."
Elko on setting the Aggie standard against McNeese
"Certainly some pieces on their roster that we need to respect and prepare for, but at the end of the day, just like last week, it's going to be about us and playing to our standard."
Elko on the O-line, secondary improvement against Notre Dame
"I don't know. I'm a football coach. We lost."
"We made some strides and improvements on the offensive line. … We didn't give up any balls over our head in the secondary."
Elko on focusing on better play calling to get receivers open
"When you talk about separation, that's not just on the wide receiver. Some of it is the routes we're calling. … It's making sure we call the right routes against the right leverages."
"Terry (Bussey) is a talented kid. We're getting him going at the best of our abilities."
Elko on sticking with Weigman despite his immense struggles
"I don't know if Le'Veon Moss was struggling that we'd pull him out of the game. I don't know if Noah Thomas was struggling to get open and make catches that we'd pull him out of the game."
"We have a memory bank of reps. You and the fans have seen 70."
Elko on the Aggies' condidtioning
Conner (Weigman) got hit in the gut and puked. Other than that, I don't think we had any one down."
Elko confirms that center Mark Nabou is out for the season
"As we get into the OL, I'll give you one injury report; Mark Nabou Jr. is, unfortunately, going to be out for the rest of the year."
Elko on improving the Aggie run defense
"We can control the line of scrimmage better with our front. I don't think we got pushed around or pushed them around to the level that we're capable of."
"Most of the explosive runs happened because of poor leverage in the third level, and we have to get that cleaned up fast."
Elko on his confidence in Conner Weigman moving forward
"He's going to respond great. He's a competitor. He's a winner. The kids are confident in him. I'm confident in him."
Elko on what needs to happen offensively to get back on track
"We've got to be more multiple in how we attack people. Part of that is trusting the protection. Some of that is putting the ball where it's supposed to go. Some of that is us being better schematically."
Its a collective effort to improve
"If 150 people in our organization all look in the mirror and see the areas they can improve this thing and we get 150 people better next weekend, we'll be on the course we want to be on."
"If 150 people point the finger, then we'll see no progress."
Elko on the need to get back to work towards getting where they want to go
"It's the same mindset of we're not where we want to be, so we'll continue to work and continue to strain to get where we want to go."
Elko on Mark Nabou's injury
It's an impact because Mark is a really good football player, but it's football, and injuries happen. The next guy has to step up and go play."
Elko on the return of "Power" in Kyle Field
"We were sitting on that one for a long time. That was something that was really important to this fan base and something that was really important to Kyle Field. When we had the change in leadership at the athletic department, that's something we felt like we could bring back."
Elko on the return of the white helmet
"New era, new feel. I feel like you can dress up Kyle Field at times."
This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: Everything Texas A&M HC Mike Elko had to say during Monday's press conference