Can Mike Elko and Texas A&M stop the talk about the past? - ESPN

THE TIMING SHOULD have been perfect.

It was the bye week, just four days after one of the biggest wins in Texas A&M history, a 41-40 comeback win over No. 8 Notre Dame in South Bend. Marcel Reed marched the Aggies down the field on a 13-play, 74-yard drive that ended with an 11-yard fourth-down touchdown pass to Nate Boerkircher with 13 seconds left.

The methodical game-winning drive defied not only Touchdown Jesus, but years of Texas A&M history, marking its first win in a ranked nonconference matchup on the road since 1979.

Now, coach Mike Elko was at a lectern to talk about the state of the Aggies. Time for a victory lap, right?

Not quite. When Elko entered that Marriott ballroom in Houston, where fans had paid as much as $2,500 for a table, to a standing ovation, he joked that nobody would be standing if Reed hadn't completed that pass. On the drive over, he had pondered what the event would have been like if the Aggies hadn't scored. All of seven minutes later, he got a question from the back of the room. He seemed to know what was coming. «Uh-oh,» he said with a bemused look. «I'm ready.»

There's a condition that has developed around Aggieland, the fan said, and she admitted they've got it bad. The fans have been burned so many times after getting their hopes up that they can only see futures in which things go wrong. So coming off this historic win, Elko was asked how they can believe the bottom's not going to drop out any day again.

«Great question. That's a tremendous buildup for me to touch on.… Let's start with this: I'm sorry, but I have nothing to do with the majority of it, so I want to make sure that that's made loud and clear to everybody in the audience,» he responds, prompting laughter from the crowd.

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