“Never play like that again!” Mike Elko is honest about the Texas A&M Aggies

The SEC can no longer boast an undefeated team as the Texas A&M Aggies suffered their first conference loss of the season, losing 44-20 to the South Carolina Gamecocks in Columbia.

The Aggies' problems were evident from the start, as they trailed by two points before the halfway point of the first quarter. They showed signs of life in the second quarter and tied the game at halftime, but that was all the Aggies had to show as they lost to the Gamecocks 24-0 in the second half.

After the game, Mike Elko had a simple explanation for the loss: They were beaten on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

“We had four turnovers, couldn't run the ball, couldn't tackle, couldn't control the quarterback, we didn't do any of the things you have to do to win a football game and that's how we lost,” Elko said . “We have to get better, we have to fix these things and we must never play like that again.”

Elko expressed his disappointment with the team's tackling, as missed tackles were a common theme for the Aggies last night, and pointed to the Gamecocks' offense.

“I don’t want to sit up here and say it’s up to all of us, do I? I’m not going to be the coach that sits up here and doesn’t give them credit,” Elko said. “You have a big quarterback who weighs 240 pounds, a big running back who weighs 230 pounds, we just didn't bring our feet, we didn't tackle the way you need to tackle big backs. If you want to tackle big, strong tackles. “Kids, you have to put your body through the tackle and we didn’t do that tonight.”

The first-year head coach spoke about Marcel Reed's performance, which seemed to be a roller coaster ride all evening.

“He definitely had some ups and downs. We’re not built to play a game like that, you know we can’t get behind like that in the second half,” Elko said. “When the time came and we couldn't play the game that we're better at, I think that really hurt us. But he's still a little boy, he's learning, he's getting better, he just has to do it. “Be a little more careful with the football.

On a positive note for the Aggie team, Elko delivered a hopeful message about Le'Veon Moss, who suffered an injury after taking a hard hit to the lower body midway through the first quarter.

“It doesn’t look as bad as it did on the field.”

Luckily for Elko's Aggies, there's a bye week coming up next week, giving the team the perfect chance to sort out its issues as it looks to finish its season strong and find itself in the College Football Playoff.

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