COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M is in the College Football Playoff for the first time, taking a huge step by being one of the last dozen teams chasing the national championship after years of coming up short.
The Aggies certainly aren’t content just to be in the bracket.
“Obviously there was excitement yesterday to sit in the watch party and see our name go up on the screen, and that moment’s not lost on the team or on me, but we have aspirations to do a lot more than just sit in a room and see our name get put on a screen,” Texas A&M second-year head coach Mike Elko said Monday.
“I think very quickly it shifted to: ‘Now we have an opponent, we have a focus.’ I think you could feel the energy lift. We kind of went right out of there into a team meeting and to get to work on kind of where this thing was going. So yeah, obviously first step is getting in, but I think we want to try to do a little bit more than that.”
Seventh-seeded Texas A&M (11-1) — which missed out on what would have been the program’s first trip to the Southeastern Conference championship game since joining the league in 2012 — hosts No. 10 seed Miami (10-2) of the Atlantic Coast Conference on Dec. 20 at Kyle Field. The Aggies are aiming to bounce back after a loss to rival Texas in the regular-season finale on Black Friday spoiled their undefeated season and the path toward a likely first-round bye in the CFP.
“It’s an honor to be able to play in the playoffs and especially get another home game at Kyle Field,” offensive lineman Trey Zuhn said. “There’s no better feeling than that. But we didn’t come here just to get to the playoffs. We came here to win it all.”
The winner between the Aggies and the Hurricanes moves on to face No. 2 Ohio State (11-1) — the Big Ten runner-up to No. 1 Indiana (13-0) — in the Cotton Bowl quarterfinal on New Year’s Eve at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The Aggies are looking for the program’s third national championship but first since 1939. Their 11 wins are the most they’ve had since going 11-2 in 2012 during quarterback Johnny Manziel’s Heisman Trophy-winning season.
They’ll make their playoff run with offensive coordinator Collin Klein, who will remain with the team throughout the postseason despite being hired as Kansas State’s next head coach last week after the retirement of Chris Klieman. Elko said though Klein oversees the offense, it is a collaborative effort that involves a variety of people, and the Aggies head coach isn’t worried the standout staffer will be stretched too thin handling all his responsibilities.
“I have a ton of confidence in Collin, in who he is as a man and who he is as a competitor, that he’ll give the focus and energy that he needs to to ensure that this thing is done the right way and finished the right way,” Elko said. “And so I have no questions about that. I think all in, we’ll be able to manage this thing pretty well.”
As for whether the Aggies will have star running back Le’Veon Moss when they host the Hurricanes, Elko wouldn’t say. Moss has been out since injuring his ankle against Florida on Oct. 11, and Elko has said in the past that the 5-foot-10, 210-pound senior could return for the postseason.
If he can’t go, Texas A&M will continue to rely on Rueben Owens II to power the ground game. He leads the team with 618 rushing yards but has managed just 76 yards combined in his past two games.
The Aggies returned to practice this week for the first time since the 27-17 loss to the Longhorns on Nov. 28. Elko said he saw a sense of urgency from his team as it tries to put that loss behind it and focus on Miami.
“The positive sometimes of a loss is it refocuses and recenters everything,” Elko said. “When you’re winning, you talk a lot about what needs to get fixed and changed, and it doesn’t always seem to happen at the rate you want it to.
“Then sometimes when you get slapped in the face a little bit, you kind of have to readjust. And I think that’s maybe what will happen from the loss.”