You know, I’ve been following Aggie football for as long as I can remember.
And now, in my 75th year on the planet, the Aggies are now tottering toward the national championship.
Whoa, hold up now, my burnt orange and white favoring friends would say – and rightfully so.
We’re on the verge of mid-October, not anywhere near January.
And besides, the national championship now requires multiple games – not just that right bowl after the regular season in mid-to-late November.
Think I don’t know that?
But the Aggies are, in this writing, in 4th place nationally.
The reason I’m celebrating now is the hand wringing, yelling at the TV have finally paid dividends.
And the first six games of the 2025 Aggie season have been no picnic.
I thought when you reached the upper echelons of college football, you didn’t have to go through the same doldrums I’ve been going through these past decades of middle of the packness week after painful week.
Over the past few weeks – the season is only six or seven weeks old – I realize that I’m not sold on greatness yet.
After all, we’ve actually had to sweat in these games, even though we’ve prevailed sometimes by a large margin.
You may be thinking that this is hardly A&M’s only brush with inhabiting the rarified air of being a Top 10 school.
And it isn’t.
But all of those previous experiences of seeing Texas A&M at the top were merely illusory.
Take the 1977 season – nearly 50 years ago.
A&M is ranked No. 2 and marches in Ann Arbor Stadium to play Michigan.
Final score: Wolverines 41, Aggies 3.
Case in point.
I mean I message my oldest son in Kerrville, at 48 he’s been there suffering through the fumbles, the poorly schemed offensive plans and the agonizing reality.
A&M struggled against Auburn, before realizing it could actually dictate its circumstances.
I told my son the recent game was an ordeal.
He agreed, but noted every time we play Auburn it’s an ordeal.
Good point.
But the Aggies are on top for something we haven’t had in a long time – a defense.
That’s my son talking and I’m agreeing.
Great offenses can falter – less so great defenses.
OK, I’ve managed to get stirred up and keep watching with the thought the Aggies would struggle a bit, but win in the end.
So, I feel better now, we could actually go to a bowl game of some prominence.
I believe in Mike Elko.
