Mike Elko, Texas A&M Head Football Coach
(Ref: Recapping the Kentucky game)
“It was not the standard that we wanted it to be, and now the challenge is on us to respond, and we have a great opportunity this week to go on the road and play a top 10 team in an electric environment. That is what this program was built on, and it will certainly be a challenge that has been laid out to the staff and the guys this week.”
(Ref: On making how he makes changes in the lineup)
“There are times where you make decisions early in the week to move some guys around and to get them comfortable in new settings. Then there are times where you are challenging a spot where you think that they need to play better and we are going to give that spot to whoever practices better. That is something that we are always looking at and evaluating and that is no different this week.”
(Ref: On how the team practiced last week)
“We were loose in the terms of never getting comfortable with what we were trying to do. I think as the week went on, we were tweaking and trying to get our kinds into a spot where they were comfortable with what we were trying to do. I don’t know if we ever felt great and that showed on Saturday, that was probably one of the worst defensive performances we have had in my tenure here and that is on me. It certainly was not loose in the sense of people not trying to or not trying to figure it out it was just in the sense of us not being able to hit it the way we wanted and usually do.”
(Ref: On what he expects from Aaron Gregory and the receiving room)
“I think it’s an opportunity for him (Aaron Gregory) to step up, obviously he is a young kid and he’ll. Be playing in his first college road game but he is a talented and very competitive kid. You also saw some of those guys step into roles on Saturday with us having to rotate especially in the end when we had to throw the ball a lot with Jaden Warren, TK Norman and Kelshaun Johnson. We have always had the next man up mentality, and we are going to need that again.”
(Ref: On his defensive philosophy)
“The defensive philosophy has not changed, it is the same defense we ran last year, and we need people to drop back and throw the ball. They had five drop back passes on Saturday and five the week before, so we are not seeing a lot of drop back passes and that makes it really challenging. A lot of it was seven-man protection and when it is seven man protection we have to cover better and you have got to give those guys more time, they are not going to get there when it is seven on four and seven on five as fast as you would like them to.”
(Ref: On Marcels run game)
“I think you are always walking on the fine line of health and effectiveness and in order for him to be able to run the ball, people have to be able to create opportunities for him. He Is not a guy who you design a lot of quarterback runs like you have seen with some of the 225- and 230-pound quarterbacks over the years, he is a guy that gets to the edge and gets loose. Some teams allow him to get that opportunity, and some teams take that away from him.”
(Ref: On the offensive lines performance three weeks into the season)
“I do think we have seen progress from that group, from week one to two to week three, I think there were running lanes that were bigger than they were the week before. I think we did a good job protecting marcel with all of the times we stood in the pocket and had to throw over the duration of that game. I thought the pockets were clean and I do think that progress is being made.”
(Ref: On the concerns of the defense)
“We have a lot of pride on how we play defense here and I think we will rise to the challenge.”
(Ref: On the team having their eyes on the wrong position)
“I think that one of the challenges in the early part of the season is that you spend so much time going against your own offense an every offense has a different layer and multiplicity to it that creates stress and dilemmas and you see it across the country that defenses are a little big behind. That is not meant to be an excuse but there is a little bit to that and we have got to catch up and catch up quick.”
(Ref: On Sam Leavitt’s play)
“I think what I see in Sam is an ultra-competitive kid. He's got an ability to hurt you with his legs but maybe in a different type of way. He's a fast kid, he's escapable, but he also will throw his body around. He doesn't back down from contact at all. He's a supremely competitive kid and that's what I see when I watch him.”
(Ref: On previous postgame comments)
“Probably about the noise, the noise that comes out in and around the program when you lose a game like that and wanting to make sure that we stay internal in our thought processes and try to get better. I think it's the nature of the way the world works today. When things go well, everything's good, when things don't go well, everything's bad and trying to get our young kids to understand that that's not a big piece of it. We got to stay internal and stay together and stay committed to the process to go get better. I don't think I've ever taken a shot at our fan base. I think I've been unbelievably complimentary of our fan base every chance I get.”
(Ref: On the environment of playing at LSU for both returners and new players)
“There's a lot of new starters making their 1st road trip and there are certainly a lot of easier venues I would choose to do that in. You draw from a little bit of the confidence we've had over the two years and being able to win some games on the road in some of these hostile environments. Saturday night's going to be an extreme challenge for us, no doubt about it.”
(Ref: On facing a Lane Kiffin offense)
“I've only done it once. So I haven't had a ton of experience going against it and I think it's changed dramatically from where it was back then, so I don't have a ton of experience against Lane.”
(Ref: On Daymion Sanford coming back off injury and playing against Kentucky)
“I think he's building himself back up. I think he's getting a little bit stronger, a little bit more powerful. I think he's able to sustain a little bit longer, which is good. The biggest challenge from that injury is how long he had to be off of it, right? Then just building the strength and the explosiveness back up. Two weeks ago, it was good to get him out there on the punt team and it's a little bit less physical. You know you're not taking on 300 pound linemen play after play after play. That was a good start and then we were able to get them going a little bit last week. I thought he handled that well and so we'll kind of see how it how it feels coming out of it and see what the plan looks like moving forward for this week.”
(Ref: On rewatching the tape versus Kentucky and evaluating Marcel)
“I think with the iPads you have a pretty good opportunity. I think you saw him at times, look the way we want him to look and again that inconsistency showed up. I think we continue to evaluate the best way to put him in the positions for him to be the most successful that he can be. I have a lot of confidence in Marcel. I believe in Marcel and Marcel's our quarterback.”
(Ref: On balancing being analytical over the loss and also preparing for the upcoming week)
“I mean it's not the first time we've lost a game and it certainly won't be the last. Again, that's not dismissing it in any way shape or form, but I think we are very analytical of everything that happens every week. Whether that's in a win over Arizona State or a loss to Kentucky, I think you come in and you really analyze what happened where the breakdowns were, what caused the breakdowns and how to try to improve it going into the next week. I think that's what you do as a coach and that's always the process. I think you come out of that and you've got to develop a mindset going forward into next week. I don't know that those two things conflict with each other. I think it's a process that you go through as a coach every week.”
(Ref: On the opportunity to win a big game in a hostile environment against a rival)
“I don't think we're going to focus on last week much more. I think we know we have an opportunity in front of us and I think we're excited for the challenge.”
(Ref: On his relationship with Lane Kiffin)
“I don't really know him that well. Obviously we interact in head coaches' meetings and those are all positive. I got a lot of respect for Lane. I think he's a really good football coach and I think he does a really good job. I think he did a phenomenal job at Ole Miss, and I'm sure he'll do a really good job at LSU.”
(Ref: On if he expects seeing more max protection going into LSU)
We went through this last year in the beginning of the year, we had a hard time generating pass rush and then when we got into SEC play, people kind of stuck more to their offense. I think we were able to play football a little bit differently. They are going to have a lot of confidence in who they are and what their system is and I'm sure that's what they'll use on Saturday night.”
(Ref: On if it was an effort to get Mario Craver extra receptions against Kentucky)
“I think obviously we felt like the week before we weren't able to get it to him as much as we would have liked. I think some of the way they were playing coverage created a few more opportunities for him too. There was a lot of under over coverage on Isaiah, which made it a little bit more challenging to get it to him and I think created some more opportunities to get it to Mario. Then obviously with Terry down, that probably loaded the targets a little bit more that way too.”
