GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – If LSU coach Brian Kelly could, he would make Texas A&M coach Mike Elko go sit in the corner of Kyle Field tonight. That’s what teachers can do to pupils.
Professor meets student when Kelly’s No. 8 Tigers (6-1, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) meet Elko’s No. 14 Aggies (6-1, 4-0 SEC) at 6:30 p.m. on ABC in match of the last two undefeated teams in SEC play.
Elko was with Kelly only in the Fighting Irish’s 2017 season when Notre Dame beat LSU 21-17 in the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida, to finish 10-3. But that was his first season at a major brand program after coordinating Wake Forest’s defense from 2014-16 and Bowling Green’s from 2009-13.
And Elko remains grateful for Kelly locating him and then skyrocketing his career. Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher hired Elko away from Kelly, making him one of the highest paid defensive coordinators in the nation at $1.8 million behind LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda at the time ($2.5 million). Fisher tried unsuccessfully to hire Aranda, who made $1.8 million in 2017, before getting Elko.
Aranda left LSU after the national championship season in 2019 to be Baylor’s head coach, where he remains. Elko left A&M after the 2021 season to be Duke’s head coach before A&M hired him after last season following its firing of Fisher.
“Brian was great to me,” Elko, 47, said on the SEC teleconference. “I’ll be forever thankful for him giving me that opportunity. We spoke through the years about different things, and so certainly it (leaving Notre Dame) had nothing to do with that.”
It was the money and the SEC.
“There was an enticement for me,” Elko said. “To be a part of the SEC.”
And Notre Dame wasn’t going to match what A&M was paying, though Kelly would have loved to have kept Elko.
“He’s extremely well organized,” Kelly said. “He has a plan for everything. He is demanding on his players and his staff, but never demeaning. He is fair. Communicates well with his players, and that’s why he’s successful. He has all the components of a leader, and I saw that when he was my defensive coordinator, and knew that he was destined to be a leader of a football program in a very short time.”
Now Kelly and offensive coordinator Joe Sloan have to make sure Elko doesn’t stop the Tigers’ high flying passing game of quarterback Garrett Nussmeier and the improved running attack behind tailback Caden Durham.
“We didn’t have some of those dudes that’s he’s got now when we were at Notre Dame,” Kelly said of the talent glut the Aggies still have from Fisher’s recruiting.
But the Aggies have struggled against the pass this season. They are No. 91 in the nation with 250 yards surrendered a game and 16 touchdowns. Nussmeier is ninth in the nation with 2,222 yards passing and 18 touchdowns.
“This is really about coach Elko’s style and the way they play,” Kelly said. “There’s a plan. Their coverages match what they’re doing up front. It’s not cookie cutter. It’s this game, they’ll do this, and this game they’ll do that. That’s they style of a coach who clearly knows what he’s doing.”
LSU MAINSTAY TOMMY MOFFITT NOW AT TEXAS A&M
Legendary LSU strength coach Tommy Moffitt began his career in Baton Rouge in 2000 under coach Nick Saban as strength coach at LSU and remained through the 2021 season before Kelly decided not retain him. Moffitt, now 61, was part of three national championships with the Tigers under Saban, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron and stayed in Baton Rouge as a retiree until Elko hired him on his first A&M staff.
“A guy who has unbelievable success and accolades in the profession,” Elko said. “You may be expecting him to be a little bit old school. And then the first time you sit down and talk to him, you realize how well educated he is n the sports science field and how modern he is. He’s on the cutting edge. So, to find both of those in the individual was something that we really coveted.”
SEC SATURDAY SCHEDULE
Oklahoma at No. 18 Ole Miss, 11 a.m., ESPN.
Arkansas at Mississippi State, 11:45 a.m., SEC Network.
No. 21 Missouri at No. 15 Alabama, 2:30 p.m., ABC.
No. 5 Texas at No. 25 Vanderbilt, 3:15 p.m., SEC Network.
No. 8 LSU at No. 14 Texas A&M, 6:30 p.m., ABC.
Auburn at Kentucky, 6:45 p.m., SEC Network.
THE GUILBEAU POLL
1. GEORGIA (6-1, 4-1 SEC).
2. TEXAS (6-1, 2-1).
3. LSU (6-1, 3-0).
4. TEXAS A&M (6-1, 4-0).
5. TENNESSEE (6-1, 3-1).
6. MISSOURI (6-1, 2-1).
7. ALABAMA (5-2, 2-2).
8. OLE MISS (5-2, 1-2).
9. VANDERBILT (5-2, 2-1).
10. ARKANSAS (4-3, 2-2).
11. FLORIDA (4-3, 2-2).
12. SOUTH CAROLINA (4-3, 2-3).
13. OKLAHOMA (4-3, 1-3).
14. KENTUCKY (3-4, 1-4).
15. AUBURN (2-5, 0-4).
16. MISSISSIPPI STATE (1-6, 0-4).
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Come back bloodied, or come back on your shield.”
-LSU coach Brian Kelly on the battle of the undefeated in the SEC at Texas A&M.
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