Misery Index: Mike Elko's bizarre rant about Texas A&M fans couldn't come at a worse time
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Mike Elko is smart — really smart. So smart that long before he became the Texas A&M football coach and landed a $69 million contract, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and played on a team that won the Ivy League championship in 1998.
But having a high IQ and a fancy degree doesn't mean you can get away with being the smartest guy in the room. Not when you're in the middle of a disaster season that calls into question whether the football decisions you've made are that smart.
And as the Aggies have descended into a 3-3 funk — hitting a new offensive low in Saturday's 27-6 loss at Missouri — Elko's snark and all his worst impulses are landing like a lead balloon on a fan base that is not in the mood to hear it.
To understand the money quote — the one that's going to haunt Elko until he either starts winning again or gets fired — you need to go deep into the message board culture of college sports, and Texas A&M in particular.
At Texas A&M, the most prominent online gathering place for fans is TexAgs.com, which has grown into an Aggie-centric multimedia company led by Billy Liucci. No matter what you think of the message board (which can certainly be toxic) or the content they put out, Liucci is undeniably the media voice who matters most in College Station. He has been in the middle of the conversation at Texas A&M for nearly 30 years, is more connected than the athletic director and is unapologetic in being an Aggie homer. He was there long before Elko and he'll be there long after.
It might be a stretch to say Liucci can make or break a coach, but he's usually the barometer of which way the wind is blowing.
So when Elko said the following Saturday to a question about fans losing faith in the team, it was a jaw-drop moment: "There's a difference to me between the fan base and social media. So there's one group that I really don't care much about. Billy's cesspool can go be Billy's cesspool. Our fan base, stay with us, be behind us. We're going to build something that we told you we were going to build. So we're in a really bad spot right now, but we'll work our way out of it."
Whatever possessed Elko to say that — frustration, certainly, and probably some arrogance — could be a turning point in his tenure. Even if the heavily online portion of any fan base is the minority, it's not insignificant. Social media may not always be real life, but it is a real place that is part of the experience of being a fan in 2026. Referring to that group of people as a "cesspool" is, to put it mildly, not the best move.
"Going to show restraint here (for now) … but the head coach losing 27-6 then immediately calling out an incredibly large portion of the loyal but also understandably frustrated fan base was a wildly unnecessary misstep," Liucci posted on X.
And he's right. Because at the end of the day, it's not the fans who have lost five out of their last seven games to FBS teams since starting 11-0 last year. It's not the fans who banked everything on quarterback Marcel Reed, who for whatever reason is struggling badly this season. It's not the fans who failed to crack 100 yards of offense against Missouri until midway through the fourth quarter. And it's certainly not the fans who promoted Holmon Wiggins to offensive coordinator this year after Collin Klein left to take the head coaching job at Kansas State.
But they do get to have opinions. That's part of the deal. And if the head coach dismisses those opinions because they're coming from people who don't know as much football as he does, it would be better if he kept that to himself rather than fueling more anger with a fan base that can now be called America's most miserable in Week 6.
Conference Champions of Misery
ACC: In Friday night's first half, it would have been reasonable to wonder if the worm had finally turned at Florida State. Coming off a dominant win over Virginia, the Seminoles shot out to a 14-0 start over Louisville and were headed down the field once again to seemingly take a three-score lead. But faced with a fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line, Norvell declined the easy field goal and decided to go for another touchdown. The decision itself wasn't necessarily wrong, even though the screen pass didn't work. Lots of coaches, especially those who come from an analytically-minded background, would have done the same. But the real problem is that Florida State immediately imploded, doing almost nothing right for the next two quarters and ultimately losing 44-20. Norvell has been on the hot seat for a couple years and is owed nearly $50 million, complicating the decision for an athletic department that is deep in financial distress. But a team that falls apart at the first sign of adversity like the Seminoles did against Louisville does not reflect well on the culture Norvell is responsible for building. Look, Florida State has some talent issues and isn't one of the top roster spenders in the ACC. But whether it's relying on too many transfers who don't invest themselves into the program or the way Norvell's staff relates to players, it's alarming to see a team that crumbles so easily. The fans have long since had it with this coaching staff, and performances like that may bring the administration along with them.
Big Ten: Was it the missed 40-yard field goal right before the end of the first half? Was it allowing a short pass by Indiana to turn into a 75-yard touchdown immediately after scoring to go up 17-6 early in the fourth quarter? Was it Matt Rhule panicking with 4:40 left after giving up the lead and going for a fourth-and-9 from the wrong side of the 50-yard line? What was the exact moment for Nebraska fans when they felt the dread creeping in, when they knew they had seen this movie too many times before, when a day that was supposed to be the Huskers' big breakthrough turned into a familiar house of horrors? Maybe it was all of them. And while Nebraska's 20-17 loss to the defending national champions was not an embarrassment — if anything, it's proof of concept that the Huskers can climb the Big Ten ladder in Rhule's fourth year — that's little consolation for a fan base that has been battered by so many close calls and disappointments when confronted with similar opportunities. And with it, one of the wildest stats in sports continues. Nebraska hasn't beaten a top-25 team since 2016, a losing streak of 31 games.
Big 12: West Virginia might just retain this spot until its defense gives up fewer than 40 points. The way things are going, it might be awhile. This week's 52-31 loss to Arizona in Morgantown was another defensive disgrace, with Wildcats quarterback Noah Fifita lighting them up for 482 yards. But what's even more demoralizing for West Virginia is that it actually outgained Arizona with 522 yards only to get blown out thanks to touchdown drives of 58 seconds and 49 seconds early in the fourth quarter. Afterwards, coach Rich Rodriguez said it's as "frustrated as I've ever been defensively," and he should be after West Virginia lost a game for the second time in program history after rushing for more than 300 yards with 30-plus first downs. "I don't blame the fans for being upset when the guy just hands the ball off and one guy's out of a gap and he runs for 60 yards," Rodriguez said. "Well, where's everybody else at? Does that mean there's 10 other guys that can't rally to the ball or whatever? It's ridiculous. … You can't win playing that poorly on defense." No, you can't, and West Virginia could be headed for a second straight basement-adjacent finish in the Big 12 if it's not fixed.
Group of Six: Few programs have grown in stature in the last decade more than Tulane, which broke out of its long cycle of losing to make the Cotton Bowl in 2022 and the College Football Playoff last season. But any program that aspires to a permanent place among the Group of Six elite will inevitably have to nail multiple coaching hires in a row to stay there. Anyone can luck their way into one good coach. It's a lot harder to do it twice. But a third time? Good luck. Tulane certainly got it right with Willie Fritz (now at Houston) and Jon Sumrall (now at Florida). The third hire, however, was Tulane's sustainability check — and athletic director David Harris might have misfired with Will Hall, who dropped to 2-3 after a 20-17 loss to Army. If Hall doesn't ultimately work out, it will be an even bigger problem than normal for Harris. That's because Hall already had a track record at the FBS level. It wasn't a good one, posting a 14-30 record at Southern Miss before being fired midway through the 2024 season. It's hard to get fired in college football and land a better job less than two years later. Maybe there's a reason for that.
Headset Misery
Steve Sarkisian: Oklahoma-Texas is the best rivalry in college football because you'd have a better chance of flipping a coin to pick the winner than relying on the way either team has played leading into the game. There's just something about the long history of that game, the intensity of hate built up over time between the two fan bases and the truly neutral field at the Cotton Bowl that makes it special. "Throw out the record books" is a cliché that doesn't usually hold up when one team is clearly better than another, but the Red River Rivalry almost never goes the way you think it will. And that makes the pain for Sarkisian this year so much greater because, by all the ways we measure football teams, the Longhorns are significantly better than Oklahoma. In fact, the narrative around the Sooners was getting ugly after a September in which their offense looked completely broken. After a 41-13 loss to Georgia, what possible path did they have to beat a No. 1-ranked Texas team with a win over Ohio State? Well, we all saw it Saturday as Tate Sandell nailed a 47-yard field goal as time expired for a stunning 27-24 win. Though this loss doesn't kill Texas' playoff hopes, it does raise a lot of questions. Because outside of the fourth quarter against the Buckeyes, Texas hasn't played to its immense potential at any point this season — a trend that has emerged an awful lot in Sarkisian's career. If this team with Arch Manning at quarterback, a truly elite defense and NFL-level talent everywhere can't win a title, will it ever happen for him?
Dan Lanning: There are a handful of coaches who have been convinced that it's analytically sound to go for two after a touchdown early in the game, and Lanning has done it many times. But when it comes back to bite you, it bites you hard. Though it wasn't the only reason or even the primary reason Oregon lost to UCLA, 17-15, not converting turned out to be a crucial swing by the end. Because when Oregon finally got in the end zone again with 2:16 left, it forced the Ducks to go for two rather than kick an extra point to tie. And when they didn't get it (yet again), the Bruins had a program-defining victory and Oregon was left with a second loss that puts its CFP hopes on the brink. Moreover, the way Oregon played offensively throughout this game should raise some questions about the entire operation. Are the Ducks really so reliant on quarterback Dante Moore, who was out with a concussion, that they can't do anything without him? Oregon had just 272 yards of offense and a stunning seven turnovers while turning to third-stringer Brock Thomas after Dylan Raiola struggled badly. For the first time in Lanning's tenure, Oregon fans have reason to be worried about the trajectory.
Brent Pry: A year ago at this time, Pry was free. After 40 games as Virginia Tech's head coach, he was living the buyout life and no longer the subject of weekly calls for his job by a fan base that had long since lost its patience for mediocrity. But lo and behold, he's given Hokies fans reason to demand his firing for a second time by agreeing to return as defensive coordinator under James Franklin. Though you could argue that offense was the biggest culprit in Virginia Tech's 25-20 loss at Cal, Pry's defense had a chance to win the game after the Hokies scored with 1:15 left to finally take the lead. Instead, Virginia Tech immediately handed Cal 30 yards on consecutive plays with a roughing the passer call and a pass interference penalty, followed by a 31-yard pass play to set up the winning touchdown with 18 seconds left. Though the second penalty was shaky — officials could have easily called it the other way — you can't let that happen against a Cal team that was missing star quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele due to a concussion and has been a mess on offense all season.
Jedd Fisch: The Washington Huskies have never looked more miscast as a Big Ten team than they did Friday night in a 41-24 Seattle shellacking at the hands of Iowa. At 3-3, Washington is arguably the most disappointing team in the country at the halfway mark after starting with a top-20 preseason ranking. Remember the offseason drama with quarterback Demond Williams, who tried to enter the transfer portal days after signing a big deal with Washington, only to back down once it became clear the school was going to do whatever it could to legally enforce the contract? Well, that's backfired on everyone. Williams hasn't played too well, and when fans see Washington on the field against a well-oiled machine like Iowa, there's a stark difference in who's more physical and more together as a program. Washington is not a top-half spender in the Big Ten, and there are some questions in the industry about how committed the university really is to its football product, but the Huskies should not be nearly this bad in Fisch's third season.
Moments of Misery
A South Florida stumble: First-time head coaches usually have a lot to learn. But after playing and coaching football their whole life, they should already know one of the fundamental truisms across all sports: Don't poke the bear. And when South Florida's new coach Brian Hartline suggested at his weekly press conference that UTSA pumps noise into the Alamodome to create a home-field advantage, consider the bear poked. The bear, in this case, was UTSA coach Jeff Traylor, one of the saltiest hardboots in college coaching. And when he heard the following quote — "I've heard it's really loud there. Trying to figure out what the population size is, you know, I don't know how it gets so loud if there's not a lot of people there," Hartline said — Traylor had all the fuel he needed for a 31-24 win in front of a crowd that harangued Hartline all night. It was just a complete whiff by Hartline, the longtime Ohio State assistant, because other coaches have made the same accusation before and gotten similar results. UTSA's home environment has been the most notable thing about the program — they're 36-5 under Traylor in the Alamodome and care deeply about it — so poking at that sore spot earned Hartline the loss he deserved.
Arkansas' head-scratcher: Razorback fans have been in "fire everybody" mode the entire season. They want athletic director Hunter Yurachek gone and don't believe Ryan Silverfield, who Yurachek hired away from Memphis, has the coaching chops to survive in the SEC. Though Arkansas' problems go way deeper than the head coaching position, Silverfield did himself no favors in a 24-17 loss to Tennessee when he punted the ball away with 1:45 left and never got it back. Though Arkansas had all three timeouts remaining, it's an easy one to second-guess with that little time on the clock and with a team that has little to lose at this point in the season. Did Silverfield think they really had a better chance of stopping Tennessee on three straight plays, then driving again with a minute or so on the clock, as opposed to making 10 yards on one play to keep the drive alive? "I think a fourth-and-10 percentage for us, especially the way we were protecting at the end, probably was under five percent chance to get it," Silverfield said. Sorry, but if you're going to lose the game, lose it because you tried to make a play.
Kennesaw's (bad) karma: Kennesaw State was one of the fun stories of last season, winning the Conference USA title and going 10-4 under first-year coach Jerry Mack, who got some buzz for bigger jobs. This year? Not so fun. The Owls are 1-4 after a 27-26 loss at home to Jacksonville State, but the important context is how they lost this game on Wednesday night. In a one-point game, Kennesaw State missed an extra point in the second quarter, blew a nine-point lead early in the third quarter, appeared to rescue the game with a field goal for a 26-24 lead with 2:15 left and then gave up an 11-play drive in 83 seconds, resulting in Jacksonville State's game-winning field goal.
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