The Aggies come out of the bye week with home matchups against New Mexico State and No. 5 Texas sandwiching the final road trip of the season to Auburn. The expanded playoff has allowed for greater opportunity for teams to reach their postseason dreams, and Elko is confident A&M can be in the party if it finishes with a 10-2 mark.

Elko and the Texas A&M Aggies suffered their first loss against an SEC opponent in 2024, losing 44-20 against a tough South Carolina team.

Following a tough loss to South Carolina, Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko turns attention to the bye week and readying for the final stretch.

Texas A&M (7-2, 5-1 SEC) is headed into the second bye week of the season, just two days after falling to South Carolina 44-20 in the most lopsided loss of the season, and the first SEC loss of the year after reeeling off seven consecutive wins.

But sometimes those are the best choices. So far, Mike Elko is looking like a home run, the former Duke head coach who got his start in coaching as a graduate assistant at Stony Brook and had stints at Fordham, Hofstra, Richmond and Bowling Green leading the Aggies to their first 5-0 start in the SEC since joining the powerhouse league in 2012.

And what a story the Aggies are telling in 2024, with No. 14 Texas A&M’s 38-23 win over No. 8 LSU on Saturday night as the latest triumph. Eight games into Elko’s first year, A&M is alone atop the SEC entering November as the only team without a conference loss. And it’s a serious contender for the Playoff.

The Texas A&M Aggies have a dilemma facing them this Saturday at the quarterback spot when they head to Columbia to face South Carolina. Last week, Marcel Reed