Texas A&M’s Mike Elko excised South Carolina demon with 27-point comeback, kept pace with IU as Longhorns loom

TAMU Aggies football coach Mike Elko accomplished so many things during his team’s 31-30 win over the South Carolin Gamecocks from Kyle Field on Saturday.

First and foremost, the Aggies maintained their No. 3 spot in the College Football Playoff rankings. With the Indiana Hoosiers bludgeoning the Wisconsin Badgers 31-7 in Bloomington, TAMU didn’t have a chance to move upwards. But they could’ve risked falling back enough to make a Week 14 matchup with the Texas Longhorns make-or-break. Now, they can lose and still make the CFP, and possibly even the SEC Championship.

Another obvious aspect: the Aggies were the first SEC team in 21 years to come back from a 27-point deficit. The win was the largest in history. Every stat paints an epic tale about the historic win.

On a more understated note, as Yahoo Sports’ Nick Bromberg points out, Elko cleared the mental hurdle that another loss to Shane Beamer’s Cocks would’ve caused, following a meltdown that started with a 44-20 loss in Columbia last year.

“It was hard not to think of 2024 as South Carolina was dismantling the Aggies in the first half. A season ago, the Aggies entered November with a real chance at making the SEC title game before a 24-point loss to South Carolina kicked off a three-game SEC losing streak that dropped the Aggies to 8-4 overall and out of the SEC title picture,” Bromberg wrote.

TAMU ended up losing to the Auburn Tigers 43-41 in four overtimes at Jordan-Hare Stadium and laid a 17-7 egg against the Longhorns at home last November. Things fell off the rails for Elko’s squad, and they even lost their bowl game.

No matter what happens this year, the Aggies will go into the final week of the regular season undefeated, barring a catastrophe against the Samford Bulldogs in the team’s home finale next week.

Not a bad place to be. Where things could’ve gone had the comeback not been completed against South Carolina is nightmare fuel in the Lone Star State. Year two in Elko’s tenure doesn’t let games against non-bowl eligible teams get away from them.

No trap game win for you, Beamer.