COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M faced fourth-and-1 from the 10-yard line and a chance to strike first on its opening drive against No. 3 Texas. Instead of playing for field goals, Texas A&M coach Mike Elko decided to take a chance. He called a timeout and let his offense get back on the field.
Running back Amari Daniels took the ball on an inside carry. He was stuffed at the line of scrimmage. The No. 20 Aggies ultimately failed to score any offensive points in a 17-7 loss to the Longhorns as they lost their third straight SEC game to miss the SEC Championship Game. Instead, the hated rival Longhorns are headed to Atlanta, already lapping the Aggies in their first season as SEC members. Texas A&M has never made the SECCG.
While the final numbers don’t fully bear it out, Texas A&M’s defense was up for the challenge. The Aggies turned over star Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers twice and held the nation’s No. 16 scoring offense to only 17 points. The only points of the game for the Aggies came on a tipped ball pick-six by Will Lee III, which was returned 93 yards.
“I told the team, there’s a big difference between the SEC Championship Game and the Music City Bowl or Texas Bowl,” Texas A&M linebacker Taurean York said. “One of those you want to play in, one of those you don’t. We’ll be playing one of those games that people are not really caring about, people are not watching. Who knows how it shakes out but it hurts because you know what was at stake and you’re a couple plays away from being there and facing a really good Georgia team.”
Unfortunately, Texas A&M’s offense completely abandoned the defense in the biggest moments. The Aggies rushed for only 102 yards on 34 carries. Outside of quarterback Marcel Reed, the skill position players combined for only 42 yards on 20 attempts. Daniels hit only 21 yards on 13 carries, including two failed fourth down conversions.
With the running game stifled, Reed’s passing game was essentially a non-factor. He completed 16-of-23 passes for 146 yards, and threw an interception on one of his only deep shots. The Aggies hit only one pass of more than 16 yards and most of the action came within 10 yards.
“We tried a lot of different things; none of it worked,” Elko said postgame. “When you can’t gain the line of scrimmage and your running back is averaging 1.6 yards a carry, it’s going to make it really hard. We had runs against light boxes and we couldn’t block the edges. The edges absolutely dominated us tonight.”
While the season numbers don’t look terrible for the Aggies, it hides what has become a wildly inconsistent unit for Texas A&M. In three of four losses, the program has failed to score more than 20 points. The lone exception was a four-overtime game against Auburn where the Aggies mustered only seven points in the first half and needed a furious comeback just to force overtime. Against Texas, the offense had nothing.
In an especially miserable sequence to close the game, Texas A&M miraculously blocked a punt. Defensive back Dalton Brooks attempted to pick up the ball and return it for a scoop-and-score, but lost his footing. Texas A&M got to the edge of the end zone, but was again stuffed in the red zone after it opted to go for a touchdown instead of a field goal.
“I feel like against a lot of the defense we’ve played, we’ve been able to make adjustments,” Reed said. “I don’t think we were able to make any adjustments tonight. We couldn’t really move the ball down the field passing and did not really have success running, so they stopped us tonight.”
Texas A&M hired Elko because of his track record of generating tough teams and physical defensive units. Quickly, the Aggies have proven themselves on that side of the ball as a force. But like so many defensive coordinators before him, Elko is struggling with a lackluster offense.
Granted, offensive coordinator Collin Klein is a rising star in coaching circles. He helped coordinate Kansas State, his alma mater, to a Big 12 championship in 2022 and generated a top 10 scoring offense in 2023. For all the warts, Texas A&M is No. 4 in the SEC in total offense in conference play.
That said, coaching in the SEC is a different kind of pressure. With a defensive unit this good, the clock is now ticking for the offense to raise its level.
Heading into the month of November, Texas A&M controlled its path to the SEC Championship Game. After shocking LSU, the Aggies sat in sole possession of first place in the conference and needed to win just one game in November to reach Atlanta. Instead, the Aggies lost three straight conference games and will be sweating out a bowl assignment heading into December.
The good news? A Music City or Texas Bowl trip doesn’t appear to be in the cards, per CBS Sports projections.
“There’s no sugar coating it, there’s no soft words around it,” Elko said. “We had our opportunities and we didn’t get it done. It’s disappointing.”