{"id":307046,"date":"2025-11-22T12:37:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T12:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/307046\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T12:37:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T12:37:18","slug":"elko-views-saturdays-matchup-with-samford-as-an-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/307046\/","title":{"rendered":"Elko views Saturday’s matchup with Samford as an opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are various ways to view No. 3 Texas A&M\u2019s non-conference football game against Samford on Saturday.<\/p>\n

An easy win.
A stat-padder.
A glorified practice.
A Senior Day celebration to honor those perhaps playing their final game at Kyle Field.<\/p>\n

Aggies coach Mike Elko mainly views the 11 a.m. game as an opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk a lot about playing to our standard regardless of opponent,\u201d Elko said earlier this week<\/a>. \u201cSo this is an opportunity for us to take a maturity step and go out there and play the game at the level that we\u2019re capable of playing it, regardless of who we are playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

It matters not to Elko that A&M (10-0) is undefeated, while Samford (1-10) has lost badly to opponents like Chattanooga and The Citadel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk a lot about playing to our standard regardless of opponent. So this is an opportunity for us to take a maturity step and go out there and play the game at the level that we\u2019re capable of playing it, regardless of who we are playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

– Texas A&M head football coach Mike Elko<\/p>\n

Elko wants the Aggies to play at a high level they\u2019ll need to reach vs. Texas next week, perhaps the SEC Championship game after that and then on into the College Football Playoff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s going to matter a lot for me in terms of how we approach this one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Aggies need to approach the game with intensity from the outset. In another early kickoff last week, they appeared to sleepwalk through an error-plagued first half to fall behind South Carolina, 30-3.<\/p>\n

Of course, they unleashed a historic rally in the second half to prevail, 31-30.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand how important it is to come out of that locker room every single Saturday with the right frame of mind to compete and play,\u201d Elko said. \u201cThis is the last game we\u2019re guaranteed to play in Kyle Field, so let\u2019s go out and do it the right way, and let\u2019s make sure it reflects who we are as a program and all the work that we put into this thing to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Troy Taormina-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Marcel Reed currently ranks 15th\u00a0in total offense nationally with 3,039 yards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A&M could conceivably host a playoff game at Kyle Field, but that would require losing a game or two.<\/p>\n

The Aggies obviously don\u2019t want that.<\/p>\n

Instead, they\u2019d rather see quarterback Marcel Reed enhance his growing Heisman Trophy candidacy.<\/p>\n

They\u2019d rather see Cashius Howell make a run at taking the national lead in sacks. He\u2019s currently second in the country with 11.5. They\u2019d rather see KC Concepcion, who is fourth in the nation in punt returns, bring back one for his third touchdown.<\/p>\n

But Elko wants to see the Aggies see this game for what is really is.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity to keep this thing going,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are various ways to view No. 3 Texas A&M\u2019s non-conference football game against Samford on Saturday. An…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[159108,2967,11828,7094,399,7092,7086,7085,398,396,397,155492,149373,99,120318,7084,159107],"class_list":["post-307046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-11-22-2025","tag-2967","tag-advance","tag-cashius-howell","tag-football","tag-kc-concepcion","tag-marcel-reed","tag-mike-elko","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-olin-buchanan","tag-samford","tag-sports","tag-texags","tag-texas-am","tag-texas-am-vs-samford-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}