- Texas A&M’s Mike Elko becomes a model for schools making coaching hires.
- The Aggies’ victory over Missouri strengthens their case for a top College Football Playoff ranking.
- As Texas A&M offense thrives, Collin Klein is emerging as a potential head coaching candidate.
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Only one school can hire Lane Kiffin. That’s if he leaves at all.
From Gainesville to Baton Rouge, covetous college football fans wonder whether their school can land Kiffin. That’s an understandable wish.
That still leaves a handful of name-brand programs making hires who won’t be named Kiffin. Athletic directors ought to ask themselves: Is there another Mike Elko for the taking? Someone in the mold of Texas A&M’s coach who might not be the flashiest pick, but who’s got the stuff to be a dynamite choice?
Hiring coaches is an inexact science. It’s a glorified shot in the dark. As No. 3 Texas A&M continues its undefeated march toward the College Football Playoff after a 38-17 thumping of No. 17 Missouri, remember that the Aggies nearly screwed this up. They got far down the road toward hiring Kentucky’s Mark Stoops before that plan got reeled back at the 11th hour.
The Aggies recalibrated toward Elko. We hear a lot about fit in the hiring process, but nothing fits better than winning. Elko, a New Jersey native, an Ivy League graduate, a former Duke coach who’d worked under the fired Aggies coach whom he replaced, has hit the fast track to becoming best fit for the Texas A&M headset since R.C. Slocum.
Who knew?
Aggies fans who peppered the Stoops trial balloon with birdshot would say they knew.
Texas A&M gives CFP committee something to consider
Elko’s latest triumph won’t go down as his crowning achievement, but the total body of work should give the CFP committee something to think about next week, in light of Indiana’s struggles in a win at Penn State.
Bump Texas A&M up to No. 2? There’s a case for it. That case is backed by strength of schedule, even if this win came against an opponent masquerading as a ranked team.
Injuries forced Missouri to start its third-string quarterback, and the Tigers’ pass game became theoretical, not practical.
Representatives from the Citrus and Gator bowls were on hand to witness Tigers freshman Matt Zollers complete 7-of-22 passes. A Florida bowl game becomes the best-case destination for a Missouri team that once harbored longshot playoff aspirations.
Missouri’s silver lining? Three losses in the past four games make Eliah Drinkwitz a less attractive candidate for higher-profile programs. Drink up, Tigers. He’s yours to enjoy.
Mike Elko keeps Aggies pointed toward SEC championship game
In this all-three-phases victory by Texas A&M, the Aggies’ defense supplied a strip-sack, and the punt team beautifully executed a fake to move the chains on a scoring drive.
My only criticism of Elko? Perhaps that fake should have been kept in the back pocket for the Texas game later this month.
Those are the nits you’re left to pick when a coach is 9-0 in his second season.
Elko has a program that perennially underachieved, compared to its vast wealth of resources, punching up to its weight. If you’re waiting for the bottom to fall out, your wait endures. With South Carolina and Samford up next, go ahead and write the Aggies into the playoff bracket, in Sharpie. It’s just be a question of seeding now.
The Aggies continued their revelation of offense served by Elko. A defensive coordinator by trade, he’s unleashed Marcel Reed. Inadequate quarterback development became a consistent bugaboo of Jimbo Fisher’s underachieving teams. No more.
Reed’s efficient, workmanlike outing against a determined Missouri defense won’t wow the Heisman Trophy voters, but his 20 completions were plenty to keep the Aggies marching toward the SEC championship game.
And every school that’s hiring a coach in this zany turn of the coaching carousel must take inspiration from Texas A&M.
Two years ago, the Aggies admitted defeat on the Fisher experience and paid $77 million to be rid of an all hat, no cattle coach. That forkover of buyout bucks became seed money that resulted in Elko.
When the Aggies hired Fisher, they awarded him a plaque with a blank space for him to fill in the year of his first national championship team at Texas A&M. Think Elko might be able to get his hands on that old relic? Don’t rule it out. He’s exceeding just about every expectation for a program finally living up to the hype.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
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