I hate to be a voice for the opulent, but if the money works, flaunt it.
All the way to the elite of college football.
So while Texas A&M was dismantling LSU 49-25 Saturday night and taking control of he SEC race, it was hard to not see it for what it was.
While the college football world is collectively sick over the financial waste of universities firing coaches and paying exorbitant buyouts (Penn State, Florida), Texas A&M is doing just fine, thank you. After two years ago paying the largest buyout in college football history.
That was Texas A&M at the end of the 2023 season, doing the utter unthinkable by firing Jimbo Fisher and giving him $77 million to please go away as fast as possible.
That was Texas A&M on Saturday night in LSU’s famed Death Valley, where dreams go to die. Unless you have a spare $77 million laying in the desk drawer.
Hey, you’ve got to spend money to make money, right?
Because that cash — the unimaginable buyout of a colossal mistake of a coaching hire — brought hardscrabble coach Mike Elko to College Station.
You’ve seen Elko by now. Looks like a short order cook, wears a t-shirt on the sideline — untucked because, well, of course it is.
He also has the best team in the best conference in college football 21 games into his buildout at historically underachieving Texas A&M. So underachieving, in fact, that the joke around the SEC is they’re not Texas A&M.
They’re Texas 8&5. Every flipping year — despite every possible advantage to winning.
That’s why it was so strange when Elko stood at the SEC spring meetings in Destin, Fla., five months ago, and said he really liked this team. No, you don’t get it, he said.
He really liked this team. As in, this team can win a championship.
And everywhere around the SEC, they laughed. Because they’ve watched Kevin Sumlin and Fisher since the Aggies rolled into the SEC in 2012.
They’ve watched the program waste one of the greatest talents in college football history (Johnny Manziel), and the greatest high school recruiting class in history (2022).
And frankly, they watched the same Texas A&M begin its first season under Elko by winning seven of eight games. Then lose four of its last five to finish — you guessed it — 8-5.
That’s what makes this season so impressive. It’s not just that Elko has this group of players executing at their collective ceiling and dominating the big, bad SEC, it’s the way they’re burying the narratives of the past.
The Aggies are soft. They’ll fold when it matters most. Punch them in the mouth, and they back down.
They had six sacks against LSU. They had more than 200 yards rushing and 200 yards passing and — get this — won despite being negative-2 in turnover ratio.
They had eight runs of at least 10 yards. Had five catches of at least 17 yards. That’s 13 explosion plays, if you’re counting at home.
They held LSU to 55 yards rushing on 25 carries, and forced talented quarterback Garrett Nussmeier into his worst game of the season. With each play that exposed LSU’s fraud season of hype, coach Brian Kelly’s ball cap spun in a crooked mess.
Let this sink in: Texas A&M, the perpetual underachievers for decades upon decades, outscored LSU 35-7 in the second half. The Tigers’ only touchdown came in garbage time from a backup quarterback throwing to a backup wide receiver — against the backup Texas A&M defense.
And Elko was livid.
Just like he was livid when the Aggies allowed 40 points to Notre Dame and first-year starting quarterback CJ Carr. Took the final drive of the game in South Bend to win that one, a road victory that can only be surpassed by winning in Death Valley for the fist time since 1994.
As LSU coach Brian Kelly walked off the field, LSU fans chanted “Fire Kelly.” Meanwhile, in their own corner of Death Valley, Elko and the players swayed and sang the Aggie War Hymn with the 10,000 or so fans who followed for the ride.
There’s nothing fluky about it. You’ve got to spend money to make money.
Or in this case, to make champions.
Matt Hayes is the senior college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
