The Texas A&M Aggies' momentum came to a halt this past weekend when they were blown out by the South Carolina Gamecocks in Columbia. Of course, the loss was due to far more than just one player making mistakes.

COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M's football head coach Mike Elko didn't mince words about his team's performance in a stinging loss Saturday to South Carolina. "Not really too many ways to sugarcoat it. We played a really bad game," Elko told reporters Monday.

The Aggies come out of the bye week with home matchups against New Mexico State and No. 5 Texas sandwiching the final road trip of the season to Auburn. The expanded playoff has allowed for greater opportunity for teams to reach their postseason dreams, and Elko is confident A&M can be in the party if it finishes with a 10-2 mark.

Texas A&M (7-2, 5-1 SEC) is headed into the second bye week of the season, just two days after falling to South Carolina 44-20 in the most lopsided loss of the season, and the first SEC loss of the year after reeeling off seven consecutive wins.

The Texas A&M Aggies have a dilemma facing them this Saturday at the quarterback spot when they head to Columbia to face South Carolina. Last week, Marcel Reed

But sometimes those are the best choices. So far, Mike Elko is looking like a home run, the former Duke head coach who got his start in coaching as a graduate assistant at Stony Brook and had stints at Fordham, Hofstra, Richmond and Bowling Green leading the Aggies to their first 5-0 start in the SEC since joining the powerhouse league in 2012.

And what a story the Aggies are telling in 2024, with No. 14 Texas A&M’s 38-23 win over No. 8 LSU on Saturday night as the latest triumph. Eight games into Elko’s first year, A&M is alone atop the SEC entering November as the only team without a conference loss. And it’s a serious contender for the Playoff.