Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko challenges an official in the second half of an NCAA college football game against LSU, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026 in Baton Rouge, La. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Gerald Herbert/Associated Press
Two months ago seems like a lifetime for Texas A&M fans.
Back at the end of August when the season was just on the verge of starting, there was plenty of optimism surrounding the Aggies after the team’s first College Football Playoff appearance in 2025. Quarterback Marcel Reed and a bevy of key players on offense and defense were returning along with a transfer class featuring some big names. It was reflected in the preseason Associated Press poll, where Texas A&M earned a spot at No. 8.
Now, starting its lone off week of the season, the Aggies (4-4) aren’t just unranked in the current AP poll. They are winless on the road. They are in second-to-last place in the SEC standings. They are the owners of the second-worst record of any program ranked in that preseason top-25 poll.
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Only Penn State under first-year coach Matt Campbell have a worse mark at 3-4.
“The product that we are putting out on the field, this university, this fan base deserves so much better,” Elko said after the most recent loss this past weekend to Alabama.
Even amid the up-and-downs of Texas A&M football over the years, the team has had just one losing season since 2010. Elko has also been a consistent winner over the past decade. Every team he has coached, either as the head coach or as the defensive coordinator, starting with his one-year at Notre Dame in 2017 has finished with at least eight wins.
It won’t be easy to continue that streak with the final four games of the regular season against South Carolina, No. 16 Tennessee, Oklahoma and No. 11 Texas.
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But it is possible. Those four teams have been inconsistent, both in conference play and against each other. Oklahoma beat Texas. Texas beat Tennessee. Tennessee beat Oklahoma. Oklahoma beat South Carolina. South Carolina beat Tennessee.
“I feel like we’re still in it together,” linebacker Daymion Sanford said of the locker room. “Coach told us to stay together, keep pushing.”
Reed is the highest-profile player not playing up to the standard he set last season when he threw 25 touchdowns and ran for another six. He has 11 total touchdowns combined this year — more than half of them coming against non-conference opponents — and is throwing for 70 less yards per game through the air.
But the season’s struggles go well beyond Reed having a disappointing campaign. No Texas A&M player ranks in the top 10 among SEC players in any of the following categories: passing yards, passing touchdowns, rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, total tackles, tackles for loss, sacks, interceptions, passes defended and fumbles forced.
The team’s best two players have been on special teams. Kicker David Olano leads the SEC with 13 makes out of 13 attempts while punter Tyler White is tops in the conference in average yards per punt (49.38) and punts over 50 yards (17).
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“For the bye week, it’s just get healthy, clear our minds and come back and win these last four games,” Reed said.
Four wins would help change the narrative of the season, especially if the program lands its first victory over the rival Longhorns since 2010. But the opposite would turn what’s already been a long season into an excruciating experience for the fans who entered the year with high hopes.
“We gotta have some pride in who we are, who we play for, the university that we represent, the fan base that we represent,” Elko said, “and we got to go finish November with some pride about who we represent and how we do it.”