Aggies, Elko Welcome High Expectations as New Season Begins

Texas A&M | Aggies, Elko — © Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports

New Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko has his hands full as he makes his debut in the team's season opener against No.7 Notre Dame at 7:30 p.m. EST on Aug. 31 in College Station, Texas.

Not only is it a top-20 matchup in front of a national audience with ESPN's College Gameday in attendance, but there is tremendous pressure on Elko and the Aggies to perform well this season, adding both positives and negatives to the situation.

"I think the pluses are the attention you have of your players for the last eight months," Elko told media members during a press conference this week. "When you have this type of game, the sense of urgency that you have from a preparation standpoint—the sense of urgency we had in training camp—you'd like to say that's because of the coaches, but I'm certain the opener plays a huge role in that."

"The negative of it is it's an opener," he continued. "When you have an opener and you're playing a game that's going to be very competitive, there's not tremendous margins [for error], and you're going to have to come out of the tunnel on opening night and execute at a high level."

High Expectations for Aggies, Elko

Executing at a high level is always expected of the Texas A&M program, regardless of its varying levels of success on the field in recent seasons. And this year is no different as a collection of highly-touted recruits now seems to have a stabilized and competent coaching staff in charge.

Fans and alumni grew tired of the underachievements of the Jimbo Fisher era—poor performances despite elite recruiting classes. The devoted Aggie fans are eager to win immediately.

Aggies, Elko — © Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports

The high expectations do not give the Aggies and Elko much of a head start, and the pressure certainly could take away from his ability to enjoy his home debut as the head coach.

"There will be a moment walking down the tunnel, for sure, where it hits you—kind of where you are and where you've gotten to in life," Elko explained. "I think that will certainly be a little bit of a surreal feeling, following the drums down the tunnel and onto Kyle Field for the first time. Outside of that, you're really just focused on helping these guys get the result that they want. It's about trying to find every angle and every detail you can to pour into the game plan to give them the best chance to be successful, and you really don't have a lot of time as a coach to just kind of sit back and think about those kinds of things."

Game Planning For An Opener

After all the changes each team makes every offseason, it can be particularly challenging to prepare for the season opener. In fact, Elko argues that it's the most difficult game to prepare for all year because of the many new players each team has and the different team films that need to be studied to prepare adequately.

"It's always a challenge," Elko said. "I think you've got to create a plan on both sides of the ball that has enough versatility because you know you're going to have to adapt. You go into Week 10, you can kind of talk in certainties. You go into Week 1, you're not really talking in certainties. ... You have to be very flexible with the plans you create because you have to adjust. That's what the opener is about—adjustments and what you can do and what you can adjust on the fly to give yourself the best opportunity to, as the game goes on, feel how it's going and to be able to have practiced enough and be prepared enough that you can go in the direction you need to be successful."

Iconic Brand

The Notre Dame brand also adds to the excitement in College Station, although Elko might not quite be ready to admit it.

"I think it's an iconic brand," he told the media. "I think it's recognizable across the country, for sure. I don't know that, for us, there is necessarily tremendous excitement because it's Notre Dame. I think there's tremendous excitement because we're playing a national brand who's ranked 7th in the country in our home opener with a lot of eyes on the game."

Familiarity

There's a little bit of familiarity for both the Fighting Irish and the Aggies this week. Elko and Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman crossed paths during their time as assistants in the Mid-American Conference, and Elko's Duke team faced Notre Dame just last season.

Elko also spent a season as the defensive coordinator for Notre Dame. Plus, former Duke players Riley Leonard and RJ Oben now play for the Irish.

"True dual threat at quarterback," Elko said of Leonard. "He can hurt you with his arm and with his legs, so he presents a huge challenge."

The Aggies should also be familiar with Notre Dame's new offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock. Denbrock spent two years as the offensive coordinator at LSU and was a critical member of Brian Kelly's coaching staff at previous stops with Notre Dame and Cincinnati.

While at LSU, Denbrock helped produce a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback and the nation's top offense. The Tigers went 1-1 against the Aggies during that time, and A&M got the better of him with an upset of LSU last season.