Texas A&M fans know the drill. You get hyped, you believe, and then you’re staring at 8-4, wondering what just happened. Year one under Mike Elko was no different. The Aggies sat 7-1, unbeaten in SEC play, and topped the standings after beating LSU. Atlanta looked real. But then, November came. Losses to South Carolina, Auburn, and Texas ripped the rug out. The Auburn loss still burns as one of those ‘what could’ve been’ heartbreaks. And suddenly, 8-4 looked like a chapter in the Aggies’ football story. But this year, Texas A&M is done with respect being optional.

On August 22, CB Will Lee III made sure the doubters got the message. Shared on X by Aggies beat writer Carter Karels, he said, “Everybody wants to win. That’s the main thing. Everybody is tired of seeing [people] say we are going to be an 8-4 team and stuff like that. It’s really disrespectful, and everybody is taking that to heart.” That “disrespect” isn’t coming from thin air. In the preseason SEC poll, Mike Elko’s team was slotted eighth. In the AP Top 25, they’re sitting at No. 19. Saturday Down South penciled them in at 8-4, with projected losses to Notre Dame, Arkansas, LSU, and at Texas.

And when Will Lee talks about the history of his team, you can feel the frustration. “Everybody is coming out here every day working hard and just trying to be the greatest team we can be and then change the history of Texas A&M,” he added. Since 2000, the Aggies have won 10 or more games just twice. Only Johnny Manziel’s 2012 Heisman year and the Covid-shortened 2020 run broke the cycle. Two decades of high expectations, elite facilities, and financial investment, yet the trophy case keeps collecting dust. That’s the frustration point. 

Mike Elko echoed his cornerback at SEC Media Days, pointing directly at how last season ended. “We didn’t play the football that we needed to play to finish it. It’s been our mantra the entire off-season,” he said. “Mantras don’t turn into wins. But I do believe our kids have a really strong chip on their shoulders to change that story and finish this thing the right way.” The difference-maker might just be QB stability, something Aggies fans haven’t seen since Kellen Mond.

Marcel Reed, who grabbed QB1 last October, is back after throwing for 1,846 yards and 15 touchdowns while adding 547 rushing yards and seven more scores. He has to improve under pressure. Last year, he ranked second-worst in the SEC at just 4.4 yards per attempt when pressured. And just as the Aggies are fighting to rewrite their own story, the SEC itself went and changed the script

Mike Elko on the nine-SEC game reality

After years of chatter and coaches griping about scheduling imbalances, the league finally pulled the trigger with a nine-game SEC slate starting in 2026. The move reshaped the DNA of the conference. Every team will now face nine SEC opponents, lock in three permanent rivals, and still be required to take on a Power Five opponent or Notre Dame every year. Commissioner Greg Sankey framed it as a flex, and rightly so. “Adding a ninth SEC game underscores our universities’ commitment to delivering the most competitive football schedule in the nation,” he said. 

Mike Elko, though, wasn’t sweating the change. His answer at Media Days summed up the Aggie mindset perfectly. “Put a ball down and tell me where to go, and we’ll play,” he responded. With that bring-it-on mentality, his roster might finally be built to back him up because this couldn’t have come at a juicier moment. 

Texas A&M returns 15 starters, landed NC State’s Kevin “KC” Concepcion, the 2023 ACC Rookie of the Year, and faces a schedule without Alabama or Georgia. Notre Dame and LSU lurk, and Texas will be a hornet’s nest. But with depth, reinforcements, and a QB finding his legs, you never know what A&M could bring to the table. And if Will Lee’s words are anything more than talk, the SEC better brace itself.