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Mike Elko Responds to Garrett Nussmeier's Comments on Kyle Field vs. Death Valley

Mike Elko was asked about the viral offseason comments from Garrett Nussmeier on Wednesday during his radio show.

Matt Galatzan

Oct 5, 2024; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies QB Conner Weigman (15) reacts after handing off the ball for a touchdown in the first quarter vs. Mizzou
Oct 5, 2024; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies QB Conner Weigman (15) reacts after handing off the ball for a touchdown in the first quarter vs. Mizzou / Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images
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This offseason, LSU Tigers QB Garrett Nussmeier went viral for downplaying the environment at Kyle Field in comparison to his own home field at Death Valley in Baton Rouge.

"It's not even close," Nussmeier told reporters this offseason. "Yes, Kyle Field is loud, I'll give them that, but it's not Death Valley."

As would be expected, those comments resurfaced this week as the Texas A&M Aggies prepare to host Nussmeier and the Tigers this Saturday night in College Station.

During his radio show on Wednesday night, Aggies head coach Mike Elko was asked about Nussmeier's stance on Kyle Field. But instead of addressing Nussmeier directly, of course, Elko elected to detail what exactly makes Kyle Field so special to him and his program.

“I joked about this because I couldn’t believe in the spring there was conversations about the 12th Man showing up at the spring game," Elko said. "There’s a lot of things I worry about, the one thing I never worry about is where the 12th Man will be when Texas A&M football is playing on Saturday. They will be in Kyle, they will be loud and proud, and they will give us an unbelievable home-field advantage.”

“What it means to us is everything. It means that you have support... You deal with so much negativity nowadays when things don’t go right like social media, and message boards, and blogs, and all of these things. The kids to understand, your fan base is here for you all the time. They don’t turn your back on you. It’s not if you win, they love you. If you don’t, they don’t. You’re very blessed to be at a place where your fan base shows up and supports you all the time.”

As for Nussmeier, he backtracked his comments from the offseason a bit this week, noting that Kyle Field is indeed a loud and challenging environment.

"We acknowledge it’s a tough environment,” Nussmeier said this week. "It’s a tough place to play. It’s going to be loud, it’s going to be exciting... But like I said before the Ole Miss game, it's easy to get caught up in the extracurriculars of what this game means. We can think about those all week and then lose the football game, and it won't matter. We're playing a football game this Saturday. It’s going to be loud. That’s going to be the environment... But we're focused on us. We’re focused on executing to the best of our ability and attacking our opponent.”

The Aggies and the Tigers kick off this Saturday at 6:30 pm on ABC.

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Matt Galatzan
MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns In SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks with the 247Sports network. He also spent two years covering the SMU Mustangs for PonyStampede.com for 247Sports. He then moved over to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. Through the years, Galatzan has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, NBA legend Dirk Nowitzki, ex Longhorns Dan Neil and Phil Dawson, FOX News and former ESPN host Will Cain, as well as countless other recruits and former players for each of the teams he has covered. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.

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