Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko knows all too well that Mississippi State can’t be overlooked when the two meet on Saturday in College Station.
The unranked Bulldogs (4-1) already beat a recent playoff team in Arizona State and pushed No. 15 Tennessee to the limit on Sept. 27 in a 41-34 overtime loss. Ranked No. 6, Texas A&M could be in for a challenge from MSU.
“They’re an extremely talented team. I think Jeff (Lebby) is a phenomenal offensive coach,” Elk told reporters on Monday. “I think they do a really, really good job testing you. They’ll stretch you sideline to sideline. They stretch you horizontally, they stretch you vertically.”
“They run a spread offense, but they’re really physical in how they run the football. I think that’s the thing that not a lot of people talk about with that offense, is how committed they are and how much they want to run the football well,” Elk added. “And they do that really well. One of the things as a head coach that you watch is sideline energy, sideline engagement, sideline interaction on the film, and they’re an extremely energetic group.”
“Which means they’ve got a lot of confidence in the program and what they’re doing. I’m sure they’re going to come in here and play their absolute best football Saturday night,” he concluded.
MSU Ground Game a Challenge
The Bulldogs run the ball at will, which the Volunteers had trouble with. Fortunately, the Aggies have seen a strong running team in Notre Dame already, a game where Texas A&M escaped 41-40.
“Yeah, I just think systematically it’s a lot different,” Elko said about comparing Notre Dame’s MSU’s running games. “So, yes, from a standpoint of talent, yeah, for sure. They’re an extremely talented backfield. We saw that firsthand with Booth last year.”
“He had a really good day against us last year. We didn’t see the quarterback. I thought they were a more efficient offense when he was playing quarterback last year,” Elko added. “They’re certainly a more efficient offense with him at quarterback this year. It’s just a different style of offense. So the plays come at you a little bit differently. I don’t know that you draw that comparison to Notre Dame, you’re just featuring a really talented group.”
Aggies Need Improvement From the Auburn Game
Familiarity aside, Elko wants to see improvement from the 16-10 win over Auburn on Sept. 26. The Aggies pulled away late and held on to beat the Tigers at home after just 13 points in the first half and none again until the final 2:42 of the game.
“When we looked at the film, I think it played out exactly like we talked about,” Elko said. “Defensively we played really, really well. I don’t think there were a lot of things when you went back and watched the tape, where you said, ‘uh oh’. Last year, there were times where you would watch the tape, and there’d be four, five, six plays where you were like, oh, thank God they didn’t find him or they didn’t see him. The tape was clean.”
“I thought we did a really, really good job leveraging and defending them. I think that showed in the stats and the results. Was really proud of how we played the fourth quarter. When they got the score and got it down to 13-10, they never got another first down. I thought that was just a tribute to the character of the team and the group,” Elko added. “So that was exciting.”
“Offensively, we moved the ball well. We were efficient. We made 15 explosive plays. We threw the ball well. We were 15-of-22. We just had too many penalties, and penalties kill drives. We had too many penalties kill explosive plays, kill drives, kill our rhythm and just ultimately kill our ability to score. It’s a problem. It’s something that we have to get fixed and addressed. It was a very, very strong point of our meetings this morning, and we won’t continue to win games if we don’t solve that problem,” he concluded.
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