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The Texas A&M Aggies began the season ranked No. 8 in the AP poll but stumbled to a 4-4 record by November, including a 1-4 mark in SEC play. Head coach Mike Elko addressed the team's mindset during Wednesday night's Aggie Football Hour at Rudy's Country Store and BBQ in College Station, pushing back on the notion that the season has lost its purpose.
Elko recalled telling his players, "We had high expectations for where this thing could go, and obviously we haven't met those, but there's still a massive difference between 4-8 and 8-4." He added, "So when you say there's nothing to play for, in my opinion, there's a lot to play for."
"There's a lot to play for every single week in terms of continuing to invest in what we started this journey to be about," Elko said, according to On3's Carter Karels.
Just a year ago, the same program finished 11-2 and earned a College Football Playoff berth. The last time Texas A&M ended a season 4-8 was in 2008, Mike Sherman's first year, so the low end of Elko's range would mark the Aggies' worst finish in 18 years.
What exactly does Texas A&M still have to play for? The first College Football Playoff rankings, released Tuesday, divided the Aggies' season neatly in two. All four of their losses have come against teams ranked in the top 25: No. 5 Alabama, No. 6 Kentucky, No. 14 LSU, and No. 18 Missouri. None of their four victories have come against a ranked opponent.
Three of the Aggies' remaining four games are against teams in that same ranked group. Texas A&M visits No. 21 South Carolina on Saturday, hosts No. 13 Tennessee on Nov. 14, travels to Oklahoma on Nov. 21, and closes against No. 7 Texas at Kyle Field on Nov. 27.
Elko's 8-4 scenario would require wins in all of those games, including three over opponents of a caliber the Aggies have yet to defeat this year. If the pattern from the first eight games holds, Texas A&M would beat Oklahoma, lose the other three, and finish 5-7. That makes one upset the difference between staying home in December and playing in a bowl—a more concrete answer to the "nothing to play for" crowd than any record Elko named.
Can the Aggies pull off the upset they need? Texas A&M led 20-17 entering the fourth quarter at Alabama on Oct. 24, then managed just 15 yards on its final three possessions, all three-and-outs, in a 31-20 loss. Marcel Reed threw two interceptions that day, and Elko considered a change at quarterback before sticking with him.
"I still believe he's our best option," Elko said.
Elko has been making some form of this case since the 27-6 loss at Missouri on Oct. 10, when the offense failed to score a touchdown. "We're in a really bad spot right now, but we'll work our way out of it," Elko said that night. The Aggies have since beaten The Citadel, lost to Alabama, and used an open week to work through their problems.
Two wins would make Texas A&M bowl eligible, and the first opportunity comes at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium, airing on ESPN.
Originally reported by yahoo.