November 14, 2026Updated November 15, 2026, 4:14 p.m. ET
The fall, the absolute collapse, is as painful as it is predictable.
From adamant it’s not the same at Texas A&M in 2025, to defiant in the face of criticism midway through 2026, to pleading Saturday night when the inevitable happens.
From the College Football Playoff to the most disappointing team in college football – in 11 long, deflating months.
Welcome back to irrelevance, Texas A&M.
“I apologize to everyone who supports this program,” Texas A&M coach Mike Elko said after an embarrassing 15-point home loss to Tennessee. “You deserve so much better.”
Make no mistake, it’s Elko’s fault. I made all the right choices in 2025, I’ve made all the wrong moves since then.
From hiring Holmon Wiggins to replace Collin Klein as offensive coordinator, to blaming the most rabid and loyal group of Aggies fans for being rabid and loyal.
From hanging around too long with struggling quarterback Marcel Reed to denying Reed is the problem for an offense that was last in the SEC in scoring (16 points per game) before the Tennessee game. Then he scored seven bad points.
In the last 10 games against power conference competition dating to last season, Reed has thrown five touchdown passes and 13 interceptions. The Aggies are 2-8 in these games.
To understand the extent of Elko’s poor decisions since the end of last season, one must look at specific personnel moves since Texas A&M’s loss to Miami in the first round of the CFP.
The Aggies scored three points against the Canes, three weeks after scoring 17 in a 10-point loss to rival Texas. Texas A&M won its first 11 games in 2025, thanks to the easiest conference schedule in the SEC.
The Texas game was the first game the Aggies played against the top eight in the 16-team league. And they were embarrassed.
Five days before the Miami game, Elko made his first bad decision, naming Wiggins — who had never been an offensive coordinator — to run the offense after Klein left to accept the head coaching job at Kansas State.
Then came the Miami game, and the offense was worse — even with Klein calling the plays before leaving for KSU. Reed had no touchdown passes and four interceptions in the final two games of 2025, and Elko responded by making his second career-defining decision of his tenure.
He didn’t look for a quarterback in the transfer portal. Although it’s just a safety net in case Reed gets injured, let alone if Reed’s struggles continue into 2026.
This is exactly what happened.
So Reed is playing poorly, and Wiggins is a first-time coordinator/caller and the next thing you know, Texas A&M (4-6, 1-6) can’t string together first downs. I can’t score points. Impossible to win matches against a significantly stronger schedule.
This is how Elko faced criticism earlier this year and tried to embarrass the TexAgs fansite. And so, less than a month later, Elko took the podium and begged for his job.
Because that’s what he was doing. He knows where this is going, knows the deep pockets of Texas A&M’s promoters, and knows that their oil money can buy out the program if it makes a mistake.
Or in this case, two big mistakes that changed the course of a coaching tenure.
“It’s a completely non-functional attack, and it’s my fault,” Elko said. “It’s my fault. I own it. Come after me.”
Maybe that will be the next stop in College Station. Or double down and wait for Elko’s next two moves.
There is too much money spent on the roster at Texas A&M to get these kinds of results. Too much investment from Kevin Sumlin to Jimbo Fisher to Elko to think that this failure will not be addressed like the others.
A month ago, Elko was talking and insulting TexAgs with the bravado of a man who signed a big contract extension in February. After yet another SEC loss and another example of how far the Aggies fell from the rest of the league, he begged like a man who knew the end was near.
“Give me a chance,” Elko said, “And we’ll sort this out.”
Welcome back to irrelevance, Texas A&M.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on @MattHayesCFB. Listen daily, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., on 1010XL-Jacksonville.
Gn sports
