No. 14 Texas A&M not underestimating lowly Mississippi State ahead of trip to Starkville

Texas A&M football charges into the second half of the season sporting a 5-1 record and a No. 14 national ranking after winning its last five games. The Aggies look to build upon their 3-0 mark in conference play when they hit the road to face SEC cellar-dweller Mississippi State Saturday at 3:15 p.m.

Starkville, Miss. hasn’t been a kind place to A&M, though, with the Aggies dropping four of their last five games at Davis Wade Stadium. Here are a few takeaways from Monday’s weekly press conference as coach Mike Elko previewed the matchup.

Aggies not taking Bulldogs likely

Mississippi State’s unassuming 1-5 record and 0-3 mark in SEC action may lead one to think that A&M shouldn’t have its hands full on Saturday. However, one doesn’t need to look far back for evidence of what the Bulldogs are capable of. The same team that got blown out by Toledo at home hung tough with No. 5 Georgia on the road this past weekend in a 41-31 defeat.

Elko understands the parity between teams in the conference this season and the weekly potential for upsets, as seen with then-No. 6 Ole Miss’ loss to Kentucky on Sept. 28 and Vanderbilt’s stunning upset of No. 1 Alabama a week later. Beyond the talent of other programs, Elko challenged his team to reflect on its own recent struggles against its SEC foes, pointing to the Aggies’ 42-24 loss in StarkVegas in 2022.

“This group of kids, the last time they went down to Starkville, it wasn’t pretty,” Elko said. “I don’t even know that we need to look at other people. I think we just need to be aware of our own history and understand what it takes to be successful, why we’re doing things to give ourselves a chance to have success and understanding that if we stop for any second, we’re going to put all of that at risk.”

The Bulldogs are battle-tested, though, with top-5 road matchups in their past two games against No. 1 Texas and Georgia. They’ve entered both games with freshman quarterback Michael Van Buren under center, who threw for three touchdowns at Georgia.

“They’re a solid team,” sophomore linebacker Taurean York said. “You’d be a fool to look at their record and think that they were a bad team. They played some stout teams as well. My hat goes off to the true freshman quarterback. … You’ve got to have some guts to be a kid fresh out of high school going against those two top-5 teams, so my hat’s off to him, for sure.”

A&M will have to prepare for the constant din of cowbells ringing when it reaches Davis Wade Stadium, and Elko said the Aggies are preparing for the road atmosphere with speakers blaring at practice. Playing cowbell noise over the speakers is a line he won’t cross, though.

“I swore I would never do that to our guys,” Elko said with a laugh.

A&M seeing buy-in to team culture

Developing a quality on-field product is only part of a head coach’s job when he takes over a program. He’s also expected to install a winning culture in the locker room, a task that Elko has taken upon himself by instilling hard work, effort and discipline. Halfway through the season, he said he’s already seeing the players embrace this mindset and jump in head-first.

“I think the culture in terms of togetherness, trying to do things the right way, trying to do things for each other, I’m extremely proud of our guys and how they’ve taken to that,” Elko said. “I tell them this all the time, when a new coach comes in and he’s talking a different way, kids have a choice. … They can just kind of let it go in one ear and out the other and [say], ‘Yeah, I’m not really interested in this, this is not my thing.’ These kids haven’t done that.

“I think they’ve bought in to everything that we believe a football program should be about. You see that continually show up in how they fight for each other, and that part is really, really cool to see. Really proud of that and I think that plays a huge part of it.

Six games remain on the schedule, though, and Elko realizes the job isn’t finished. Rather, it’s a daily process that he said needs to be brought to the facility throughout the week as the Aggies look to make a push for the College Football Playoff.

“Now, it’s, can we continue to have the right frame of mind?” Elko said. “Can we continue to have that championship mindset? Can we continue to have that growth [and] focus every single day as we go into this back half of the season? That’s a whole other challenge in and of itself, but in terms of the togetherness, I’m really happy with where we are.”

Conner Weigman works his way back under center

Redshirt sophomore QB Conner Weigman didn’t miss a beat when he returned to the field for the first time since Sept. 7 against then-No. 9 Missouri on Oct. 5. Don’t be fooled by the lack of touchdowns next to his name in the box score, as Weigman completed 18 of 22 passes for 276 yards and picked up 33 yards on five rushes in a decisive 41-10 A&M victory.

“If I get backed in a corner, I come out swinging,” Weigman said. “I’m not going to go down without a fight. That’s just how I am, that’s how I was raised. Just being able to come out there, stick to the gameplan coach [Collin] Klein had and just the trust he had in me to go out there and spin the ball around, I mean, we had a good game. It was fun.”

Weigman said his time sidelined from action with an AC joint sprain in his throwing shoulder allowed him to reevaluate how he approaches the game. Not being on the field for three games didn’t stop him from improving his chemistry with the Aggies’ offense.

“Just sitting there watching film, watching the games from a different point of view,” Weigman said. “Not being behind the center and just taking things in. Watching how some of my guys work, what makes them click, what makes them go and how to get some of my playmakers, get the ball into their hands as quick as possible. I felt like it was a good three weeks.”

Weigman also said he saw his relationship with QB Marcel Reed strengthen after the redshirt freshman was 3-0 in his place as starting quarterback. Weigman said the pair has a sense of reliance on one another with support for their accomplishments.

“That’s my brother, I love him to death,” Weigman said. “Whenever I’m out there, whatever I need done, whether it’s watching a safety or watching the iPad and vice versa, whatever he needs me to help with, I’m right there for him.”

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