Following a historic collapse at Kyle Field, the Aggies’ head coach refuses to make excuses, challenging his locker room to "man up" after a blunt self-assessment.
Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko did not search for excuses following the Aggies’ stunning 31-21 loss to Kentucky on Saturday.
Instead, Elko put the responsibility squarely on himself.
The Aggies entered the matchup ranked No. 9 nationally and were expected to handle an unranked Kentucky team at Kyle Field. Instead, the Wildcats pulled away in the second half, scoring 21 unanswered points to hand Texas A&M its first loss of the season. It was also Kentucky’s first victory over the Aggies since 1952.
Elko was blunt when assessing what went wrong.
"Hats off to Kentucky. They came in here, and they beat our a**," Elko told reporters. "Not good enough for us on any level — coaching, playing, performing, physicality, anything. And so, it’s on me. I own it. It’s my program. I’m in charge of it, and we have to get it fixed."
The Texas A&M coach also made it clear that he was not interested in trying to find positives from the performance. Elko said there was "not an ounce of a positive" to take from the game, while acknowledging that Kentucky deserved full credit for the way they played.
The loss exposed problems on both sides of the football. Texas A&M struggled to consistently move the ball, while the defense surrendered four touchdowns on Kentucky’s first five drives of the second half. The Aggies also had difficulty stopping the Wildcats’ rushing attack as the game slipped away.
Rather than placing the blame on individual players, Elko emphasized that the entire program needed to respond.
"Man up," Elko said when discussing his message to the team. "You figure out what you are about during adversity. Everybody will quit on us. That’s how this thing works. It’s never been about everybody. It’s about people inside that locker room."
For Texas A&M, the challenge now is turning Elko’s words into action. The Aggies have little time to dwell on the disappointing result, with SEC play continuing next week.
Elko has made it clear that he believes the responsibility starts with him. Now, Texas A&M will have to show how it responds.
