• After Texas A&M routs Missouri, Aggies have stadium to themselves.
• Texas A&M underachieved for years. Mike Elko redirected the course.
• Aggies aren’t unblemished. Elko calls run defense ‘awful.’

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Rueben Owens II scored his second touchdown late in the fourth quarter, and he looked into the stands expecting to see fans. He saw rows of empty seats.

“I was like, ‘Dang, there ain’t nobody here,” Owens, the Texas A&M running back, said.

That’s the sign of a rout in motion.

Then Owens shifted his gaze toward the southeast corner of Missouri’s Memorial Stadium. He saw packed stands in that nook. That’s where Aggies fans congregated and celebrated as No. 3 Texas A&M pulled away in a 38-17 romp over No. 17 Missouri.

“That just shows a lot of love from the 12th Man,” Owens said.

The wind whipped, and the temperature plummeted after the sun set. That tends to happen on fall nights in the Midwest. Combine the elements with the increasingly lopsided score, and most Missouri fans headed for warmth or to pursue something more pleasurable to the eye.

Those wearing maroon and white in the southeast corner still wouldn’t leave, even after the clock showed 0:00. They cheered and they chanted, and wide receiver KC Concepcion decided he’d join the party. He ascended the steps from the field and gave the fans what they wanted: another reason to chant and cheer.

“KC! KC! KC!” they chanted.

Aggies fans waited too long for a season like this.

It’s not finished yet, but pinch yourself, because it’s the second weekend of November, and Texas A&M hasn’t folded. To the contrary, these Aggies grow stronger. They’re undefeated. They’re on a march toward Atlanta.

Mike Elko reminded of why he took Texas A&M job

This is what’s long been expected of a program steeped in financial resources, blessed with gleaming facilities, backed by loyal fans and rooted in fertile recruiting terrain.

And it became a rite of summer we’d vault the Aggies into some lofty position in preseason polls. And it became a rite of November we’d say another Texas A&M team showed itself to be overhyped.

As one coach after another failed, we kept considering this a top-shelf job. Because, never mind the history, why shouldn’t this program succeed?

That’s what Mike Elko thought when he succeeded Jimbo Fisher.

“From a CEO perspective, obviously I believe this is what this program is capable of,” Elko said. “That’s why we’re here. We’re here because we believe in the ceiling of this program.”

“This is kind of what everyone had been talking about with this program for a long time,” Elko added. “For nine games we’ve lived up to it. Now, we’ve got to go finish.”

Mike Elko is done talking about the past

They’re already finishing better than how they did last season, when a three-loss November spoiled an otherwise solid debut to Elko’s tenure.

Throughout the offseason and into the preseason, one word became a mantra around the program.

Finish.

By now, Elko’s tired of hearing about last season’s collapse. When a reporter referenced the events of last November, Elko waved it aside.

A federal appeals court has ruled that Texas can enforce a 2023 law that prohibits drag shows in public or when children are present, although the ruling indicates that the judges do not believe all drag shows would be restricted under the measure.

Senate Bill 12 bans drag performers from dancing suggestively or wearing certain prosthetics on public property or in front of children. Business owners could face a $10,000 fine for hosting these performances, and performers who violate the law could be slapped with a Class A misdemeanor.

A three-judge panel in the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday reversed an earlier decision by a district court, returning the case to the district court, according to The Texas Tribune.

In Thursday’s decision, the judges ruled that most of the plaintiffs, which included a drag performer, a drag production company and pride groups, were not found to have planned a “sexually oriented performance,” meaning they could not be harmed by the law that seeks to restrict sexually explicit dances, the outlet reported.

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The ruling also suggests that the court does not believe all drag shows are sexually explicit and, therefore, are not impacted by the ban.

In September 2023, U.S. District Judge David Hittner ruled that the law was unconstitutional, writing that it “impermissibly infringes on the First Amendment” and that it is “not unreasonable” to believe it could affect activities such as live theatre or dancing.

Critics of the ban have previously argued that GOP lawmakers were attempting to label all drag shows as sexually explicit, as Republicans continue to target the performances in Texas and several other states.

The court found that performances described by a drag production company are arguably sexually explicit, although the ruling does not specifically state which actions were included.

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“When asked whether the performers ‘simulate contact with the buttocks of another person,’ the owner testified that the performers sit on customers’ laps while wearing thongs and one performer invited a ‘handsome’ male customer ‘to spank her on the butt,’” the ruling said. “When asked whether the performers ‘ever perform gesticulations while wearing prosthetics,’ the owner testified that in 360 Queen’s most recent show, a drag queen ‘wore a breastplate that was very revealing, pulsed her chest in front of people, (and) put her chest in front of people’s faces.’”

Judge Kurt Engelhardt also wrote in a footnote that there is “genuine doubt” that these actions are “actually constitutionally protected —especially in the presence of minors.” He was joined by Judge Leslie Southwick, while Judge James Dennis disagreed.

“That gratuitous dictum runs headlong into settled First Amendment jurisprudence and threatens to mislead on remand,” Dennis wrote in his partial dissent.

The court also removed most of the defendants from the case before sending it back to the district court to reconsider a part of the measure that centers on the Texas attorney general’s job in enforcing the law.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton praised the ruling, saying in a news release that he “will always work to shield our children from exposure to erotic and inappropriate sexually oriented performances.”

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“It is an honor to have defended this law, ensuring that our state remains safe for families and children, and I look forward to continuing to vigorously defend it on remand before the district court,” he said.

The plaintiffs and the ACLU of Texas, which represents the plaintiffs, described the ruling as “heartbreaking,” adding that they plan to continue fighting the law.

“We are devastated by this setback, but we are not defeated,” they said in a joint statement. “Together, we will keep advocating for a Texas where everyone — including drag artists and LGBTQIA+ people — can live freely, authentically, and without fear. The First Amendment protects all artistic expression, including drag. We will not stop until this unconstitutional law is struck down for good.”