Mike Elko thinks Texas A&M was "lucky" against Florida Football earlier this year

One of the fever-pitch moments for Florida Football in 2024 was when Texas A&M came to town and had their way with the Gators. It was the game that led to us calling for the outright firing of Billy Napier as the Gators fell to 1-2 on the season.

As the season played out, Florida eventually steadied the ship while Texas A&M had a shot at the playoffs, only to wind up with the same record as Florida. Upon reflection, Aggie head coach Mike Elko thinks his squad might have been fortunate when they traveled to The Swamp.

Florida Football: Learn from history

Texas A&M did not have a great finish to their season. After starting 7-1, the Aggies lost four of their final five, including a late collapse against Southern Cal in the Las Vegas Bowl.

After the game, Elko mused about the inability of his defense to make stops down the stretch and thought their problems always existed but weren't exposed until the end.

"The story of the game is the story of the season, we can't cover the forward pass... I have apprehension when the other team drops back to throw the ball. Starting against Florida, we got lucky... Starting against Missouri, we got lucky. LSU threw for 400."

If you rewind to the Texas A&M game, Florida's core problem was that they themselves had zero answers for Marcel Reed, and all four of A&M's first-half drives were at least nine plays.

Combined with Napier insisting on a one-to-one rotation of Graham Mertz and DJ Lagway, along with playing Taylor Spierto for 30+ snaps for some reason, Florida's offense had zero chance of getting into a rhythm.

So to Elko's point, had Florida just played Lagway the entire game combined with if Florida couldn't have just gotten one defensive stop, and maybe Florida's offense would have had a bit more life.

A&M's defensive staff is led by former Florida linebacker coach Jay Bateman, who left Gainesville to be the defensive coordinator for Elko.