Texas A&M hires Mike Elko: How will he fare?

Mike Elko has been announced as the head coach of Texas A&M. The former Duke head coach (where he guided the Blue Devils to back-to-back bowl appearances, something rarely seen in Raleigh) returns to College Station, where he was defensive co-ordinator under Jimbo Fisher before his departure. There was a celebratory press conference, filled with good graces and an Aggie War Hymn in front of about 200 Aggies fans who obviously had nothing better to do with their time came on Monday afternoon. “There’s not many times when you go into the first team meeting and 50 of the players come up and give you a big hug and welcome you back,” Elko told the party. “But then I think

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Mississippi State fires Zach Arnett

Mississippi State has fired head coach Zarch Arnett after just 11 games. He finished with a 5-6 record but an awful 1-6 in the SEC this year, where the only highlight was a 7-3 victory over Arkansas (who might lose their head coach soon too!). Arnett was paid $3 million. He’ll still be owed $4.5 million – chump change compared to the amount owed to Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M – half of what is left on its deal, according to MSU’s 247 page. The former defensive coordinator had one of the hardest jobs in college football this year – coming in after the death of head coach Mike Leach, who passed away in December. Honestly, he should never have

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So who’s gonna be next for Texas A&M?

Now Jimbo’s been pushed out of the door at Texas A&M, immediately tongues are wagging about who’s next up. Here are our runners and riders, with Duke’s Mike Elko seemingly the run away fan favorite. THE FAVORITE Mike Elko: Has turned around Duke from a national joke to a ACC competitor, which has included a win over Clemson this year. Currently 15-8 in Raleigh. Was a great defensive coordinator in College Station. Defenses average 25th in the country between 2018-2021. More importantly, wasn’t fired by Fisher. WHO SHOULD GET A CALL Brian Hartline: Ohio State is a bigger job than Texas A&M, and all he’s done in his time at Ohio State is recruit talent. Puts endless amount of wide

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Jimbo Fisher out at Texas A&M

Jimbo Fisher has been fired at Texas A&M. He will be taking $76m with him, with a $20m due within the first month of termination, and then he gets a $7m annuity over next 7 years. He might be touchable during that time. The writing was on the wall “They won’t fire him, the buyout’s too big”, boosters told me over and over again last year after another moribund offensive performance – particularly against a they-turned-out-to-be-awful Appalachian State team. To be honest, it was the 38-22 win over LSU at the end of last season that probably saved his job. If they had lost that, Texas A&M would have been looking for a head coach last autumn. By the start

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SEC Rankings: Missouri flies up

Georgia: The injury to Brock Bowers is obviously going to hurt the Bulldogs, but the fact that there are alternatives – and good wide receivers that will help Kirby feel happier about life. Also: The defense will be able to step up. As they usually do.  Alabama: The offensive line is less of a problem than people think. Jalen Milroe hasn’t been great with his decision-making, which means he gets sacked lots. But right now, Nick Saban’s team’s all about running the ball down the opposition’s throat….and they are very good at doing that.  LSU: The loss to Ole Miss is looking more and more like a blip. The defense rebounded well against Missouri and even better against Auburn, although

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SEC Preview: Can Lane Kiffin get that big win (at last)?

Lane Kiffin runs his mouth a lot. But he has failed to follow up on it on so many occasions, it’s getting a joke. Here’s a stat: He’s 1-19 against teams who finish up winning 9 games, and 3-7 against teams who end up getting into the Top 25. And last year, Ole Miss was destroyed by LSU in a Jaylen Daniels special. Kiffin will want to show everyone that he’s back (and ready for a bigger job!), and with the Tigers coming to town, this game’s got top billing. 1. No. 13 LSU (-2.5) at No.20 Ole Miss: Even though LSU gave up 426 yards to a pretty bad Arkansas offense, they got things right with an exceptional end-of-game

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SEC Preview: Will Petrino’s arrival propel Texas A&M?

2022 and 2023 were meant to be banner years for Texas A&M. Buoyed by a NIL fund worth hundreds of millions, the Aggies recruited its best class in decades. Then, they fell apart. Half of the that group transferred. A&M lost to Appalachian State and played a lot of football, but should have beaten Alabama and DID beat LSU. Jimbo Fisher exercised some excellent restraint, realizing that things weren’t working with him at the offensive reigns, so he brought in everyone’s favorite motorcyle-driving crazy person, Bobby Petrino. WHO’S IN? The Aggies bring in QB Jaylen Henderson from Fresno State. He’ll be the back-up-of-the-back-up (Max Johnson is still around). He had a season-ending thumb injury in October which kept him out

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The questions that you’d really like to ask each SEC coach

Every week, SEC head coaches come to the podium. And every week, they are thrown softballs by the members of the press. They are asked about quarterbacking situations, how they feel about practice, and in roundabout terms, what the situation is with certain players, who get themselves in trouble. But there’s a question (or two) that we’d like a SEC coach to answer this offseason. And won’t. ALABAMA: “Mr Saban, how did it feel when David Pollack said on air that Alabama’s crown has now been taken over Georgia on College Gameday when he was sat next to you? Were you more pissed off at Pollack or the College Gameday people, and why didn’t they give you the chance to

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Rivalry Week: SEC game predictions (plus the other one!)

Before we talk about SEC rivalries, let’s think about the one that’s not going to be played this week: Virginia and Virginia Tech. It’s not because of COVID-19. It’s not because of food poisoning through both camps that means both teams can’t field players. It’s because a nasty piece of work shot three of his former teammates dead and the team can’t do anything but mourn. It doesn’t make me want to give thoughts and prayers, it makes me want to give thoughts and get ****ing angry. Less importantly that my previous paragraph, it’s Rivalry Week in College Football – but in particular, the SEC. There’s battles for Irons, Palmettos, Eggs, jorts and even ****ing Commonwealths. It’s nasty, it’s angry,

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