College football press conferences are usually a masterclass in coach-speak and deflected blame. Mike Elko didn’t get that memo after the Kentucky Wildcats shocked the No. 9 Texas A&M Aggies.
After the 31-21 loss to Kentucky, the Aggies head coach took the podium and delivered a brutally honest assessment of exactly what transpired at Kyle Field.
“Hats off to Kentucky,” Elko said. “They came in here, and they beat our ass. Not good enough for us on any level: coaching, playing, performing, physicality, anything. And so, it’s on me. I own it. It’s my program. I’m in charge of it, and we have to get it fixed.”
Before the press conference, Elko told Will Stein directly just what his Wildcats did to the Aggies.
Elko didn’t stop there. He noted how much he hates watching coaches step to the microphone to manufacture excuses after a loss. He owned the performance and made sure that all the credit for the outcome belonged to Kentucky.
In a profession built on spin, it’s hard not to respect a coach who just steps up and owns it.
We all have bad days at the office when things simply refuse to go our way. Kentucky knows that feeling intimately. Just last week, Will Stein’s squad was on the wrong side of a second-half avalanche, watching Alabama roll up 32 unanswered points in Lexington.
But what a difference a week makes.
Saturday was the Cats’ day. And based on the traditional postgame celebrations back in Lexington, it’s safe to say Big Blue Nation will officially be down a few couches this week.
