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Kentucky wide receiver DJ Miller (7) catches a pass for a first down as Texas A&M cornerback Julio Humphrey (6) defends during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, in College Station, Texas.<\/p>\n
David J. Phillip\/AP Photo\/David J. Phillip<\/p>\n
Texas A&M wide receiver Kelshaun Johnson (11) is tackled by Kentucky defensive back Jordan Castell (5) during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, in College Station, Texas.<\/p>\n
David J. Phillip\/AP Photo\/David J. Phillip<\/p>\n
Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed (10) throws a pass against Kentucky during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, in College Station, Texas.<\/p>\n
David J. Phillip\/AP Photo\/David J. Phillip<\/p>\n
Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed (10) is pressured by Kentucky defensive lineman Tavion Gadson (94) during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, in College Station, Texas.<\/p>\n
David J. Phillip\/AP Photo\/David J. Phillip<\/p>\n
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) \u2014 Texas A&M coach Mike Elko was blunt in his assessment of the Aggies after their 31-21 loss to Kentucky on Saturday.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThere\u2019s no positives,\u201d the third-year coach said. \u201cNot an ounce of a positive anywhere. There\u2019s a product that\u2019s not good enough. That starts with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The ninth-ranked Aggies gave up 21 straight points after halftime to turn a tie game into a 28-7 deficit that proved too big to overcome as they dropped their Southeastern Conference opener.<\/p>\n
The announced crowd at Kyle Field was 105,186. But as the last few minutes of the fourth quarter ticked away, large swaths of the upper deck were empty as many fans left early rather than watch the Wildcats celebrate on their field.<\/p>\n
The game pitted Texas A&M\u2019s offense against Kentucky defensive coordinator Jay Bateman, who spent the last two years in the same position with the Aggies. He seemed to have Texas A&M\u2019s number, keeping the Aggies off-balance all day and limiting Marcel Reed to 26 of 49 passing for 236 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.<\/p>\n
Reed didn\u2019t think Bateman\u2019s familiarity with the Aggies’ offense helped the Wildcats on Saturday.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI just don\u2019t think we executed the way we needed to,\u201d Reed said. \u201cThat\u2019s a defense that I\u2019ve seen a lot. So, we should have been able to execute pretty well. So, yeah, we have just got to do better.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Aggies had punted on their previous two possessions when they went for it on fourth-and-2 from their own 33 when they were down 14 in the third quarter. But Reed\u2019s pass fell incomplete to give the Wildcats great field position.<\/p>\n
The Wildcats took advantage of the short field when CJ Baxter scored his second touchdown on a 2-yard run near the end of a third quarter in which they outgained A&M 196 yards to 20.<\/p>\n
Elko said he thinks Reed is struggling because he\u2019s pressing.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of noise. He feels like he\u2019s got to defend himself a lot,\u201d Elko said. \u201cThat\u2019s not an excuse, but that\u2019s a reality. I think you can see him pressing. You can see the stress in him when he\u2019s trying to throw, because he\u2019s trying to be perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elko has been working with his QB to try and get him to play more relaxed and said he\u2019ll continue to try and help him do that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got to get him mentally to a place where he can really cut it loose and feel free and play,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that, more than anything, right now is the issue with him. It\u2019s like a pitcher sometimes who struggles to throw strikes. It\u2019s just growing on him. And he\u2019s got to be able to relax and play the way he\u2019s capable of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reed, who is in his third year as A&M\u2019s starter, agreed that his issues are more mental than physical.<\/p>\n
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\u201cSo, I\u2019ve got to fix that immediately, and just build my confidence back up,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like I lost it or anything, but this one definitely hurt. It\u2019s not fun losing, and that\u2019s a conference game. But I can make those throws and I will make those throws down the stretch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reed and the Aggies will must try to fix their problems quickly with a trip to Death Valley to face No. 7 LSU coming next Saturday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to get right back to work starting tomorrow and prepare our minds for going to Baton Rouge,\u201d Reed said.<\/p>\n
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Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP\u2019s full college football coverage here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kentucky wide receiver DJ Miller (7) catches a pass for a first down as Texas A&M cornerback Julio…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[152793,152794,2917,4056,4055,2163,23681,202,196,49690,42094,1721,942,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-441571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-aggies-kentucky-loss-elko","tag-jay-bateman","tag-kentucky","tag-kyle-field","tag-marcel-reed","tag-mike-elko","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100502-member-choice-sports-option","tag-product-30599-ap-sports-news-s-wire-only","tag-product-32555-ap-online-college-sports-news","tag-product-32562-ap-online-other-sports-news","tag-product-40788-ap-kentucky-sports-only","tag-product-40815-ap-texas-sports-only","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}