COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KRHD) — Texas A&M football is preparing for its first road game of the season, traveling to Baton Rouge to face LSU after suffering its first loss of the year against Kentucky.
The Aggies managed just 21 points against the Wildcats despite gaining more than 400 yards. Players and coaches have been reflecting on what needs to change heading into Saturday's matchup.
Head coach Mike Elko said the team's preparation never fully came together ahead of the Kentucky game.
"We never got comfortable with what we were trying to do. I think as the week went on we were tweaking and trying to get our kids into a spot where they were comfortable with what we were trying to do and, honestly, I don't know that we ever felt great and obviously that showed Saturday — that was probably one of the worst defensive performances we've had in my tenure here and so I own that, that's on me, that's nobody else's responsibility."
Elko added that the issues were not about effort.
"I don't think it was loose in the sense of like people not trying or people not trying to figure it out. I think it was loose in the sense that we just weren't able to hit it the way we wanted to or the way we usually do and so we got to go back to the drawing board."
Wide receiver Mario Craver said finishing drives needs to be the team's priority.
"Being able to finish jobs. I think a lot of our jobs we ended up in the red zone, didn't end up getting points. I think our main thing right now is being able to finish jobs in the red zone and just being able to finish jobs — jobs where we got in the red zone, jobs where we had momentum, just being able to finish."
The Aggies also received difficult injury news. Elko confirmed that wide receiver Terry Bussey suffered a season-ending lower body injury on the first play of the Kentucky game. In his absence, younger playmakers will need to step into larger roles.
Elko said wide receiver Aaron Gregory is one player who could rise to the occasion.
"I think it's an opportunity for him to step up. Obviously a young kid and he'll be playing his first college road game. But he's a really talented kid and a very competitive kid, and I think you saw some of those guys step into roles on Saturday with us having to rotate and then certainly at the end when we had to throw the ball a lot — Jayden Warren, TK Norman, Kalshawn Johnson — and we've always kind of been the next man up mentality, and we're going to need that again."
One bright spot for Texas A&M is the return of linebacker Daymion Sanford, who had been sidelined since suffering a lower leg injury in the spring game.
"I feel like I played pretty good. I haven't tackled since the spring, so I made a couple of tackles to try to get that feeling back, so it felt pretty good. I'm still trying to take it day by day. I just felt like I was ready. The previous week I felt like I wasn't really ready. I was still having trouble with just running and stuff, changing direction, so I feel like last week I felt pretty good, so I feel like I was ready to go," Sanford said.
LSU will also be coming off a loss, giving the Tigers added motivation heading into the home matchup. Texas A&M has won the last two meetings between the programs, but this will mark the team's first road test of the current season.
