Senior Day in Week 12? Texas A&M Aggies Coach Mike Elko Explains Reasoning

The Texas A&M Aggies are choosing to honor their seniors Saturday instead of prior to their final home contest against the Texas Longhorns — a decision Mike Elko stood behind when questioned.

Oct 26, 2024; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko watches the replay in the third quarter against the LSU Tigers at Kyle Field. / Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

The Texas A&M Aggies have a difficult three week stretch ahed of them as they eye a potential College Football Playoff berth in Year 1 of the Mike Elko era.

To this point, they've notched conference wins both at home and on the road in convincing fashion — save for the second-half blunder they had on the road against the South Carolina Gamecocks — but need two more to truly make their case.

One is set on the road against the Auburn Tigers, while the other is at home in a renewed rivalry between the Aggies and Texas Longhorns, which has been circled as a must-win since the beginning of the season.

Luckily for Elko and company, they have a "warm-up" game at home against New Mexico State coming off a bye week — a contest that could give them some much-appreciated momentum before the final two weeks.

But they aren't treating it as such.

"Our playoffs start Saturday," Elko explained. "Our ability to accomplish everything we want to accomplish requires a tremendous amount of focus ... that starts Saturday at home."

Adding to the ambiance of what's expected to be an otherwise-dull game, the Aggies will honor their seniors prior to the contest, instead of prior to the Texas game.

Why? They wanted to give the seniors' penultimate home game a chance to breathe.

"I think the coaching staff understands the importance that certain games have," Elko said. "With everything that's going to go into that last one and bringing the rivalry back, we didn't think that our seniors would get the day that they deserve."

It's an interesting choice, to say the least. But considering how much of the attention is set to be on the long-awaited rivalry, it makes sense.

This way, the seniors get their day, and the Aggies can get it over with before shifting their focus to the final two contests.

Though, as Elko put it, they've still got a ways to go on that front.

"Our goal was to get to that game and have it mean an awful lot," the coach said. "We still have some work to do to make sure that's done the right way."

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