COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – When Mike Elko was at Bowling Green in the early 2010s, third downs became a game within the game for the defensive coordinator.
It was easy to get a free man to the quarterback when you sent seven men in pass rush. However, if you scheme a play just right, could you get an unblocked man on the quarterback without having to send the house? Balancing that equation became a passion of Elko’s
“He’s a mad scientist and I don’t think anyone does it better,” Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea said of Elko on the SEC coaches teleconference. Lea worked under Elko during those days at Bowling Green.
As Texas A&M has jumped out to its first 4-0 start since 2016 this season, they’ve looked more like an Elko defense on third down than his first season as the head coach in Aggieland.
The Aggies rank 10th in the nation in third down defense, with opponents converting on 24.6% of opportunities. It’s an improvement from the 35.4% the Aggies posted at the end of last season.
“It’s always a down that we put a real premium on,” Elko said. “Everybody says that, but we emphasize it a lot. We spend a lot of time on it. I enjoy it probably more than I do any other part of the game, and so maybe, just personally, I get a little bit more excited when it’s time to come up with the third down plan.”
This year’s ranking was aided heavily by the Aggies’ performance against Auburn last Saturday, shutting the Tigers out on third down on 13 attempts. It was the second time in his career he held a team without a third down conversion in a game, the first being N.C. State in the 2018 Gator Bowl.
At that time, when Elko was the defensive coordinator with the Aggies, Elko would run a line change out on defense, with specific players making their mark as third-down specialists. Now, as head coach of the Aggies, Elko tends to stick with his same personnel but throws very different looks at opposing quarterbacks.
It started back at Bowling Green when Elko began formulating his third-down schemes by bolstering his knowledge on protections and how offenses look at third down. He would pick the brains of offensive coaches around him to start thinking like an offensive coach and create problems with that line of thinking as a defense. He looked at defense through an offensive lens.
Lea said he could never expect Elko to approach third down with a traditional plan.
“I think he’s got a unique ability to, kind of, diagnose what the front is doing and how they’re protecting the passer and who they’re using for that and then, formationally, I think he’s got a unique ability to understand route leverage and where the important intersect points are for the defense,” Lea said.
This season, third down packages have continued to morph. The defensive line typically spreads wide, allowing one or two linebackers to walk up to the line of scrimmage. Sometimes a linebacker will enter the rush, sometimes they drop back in coverage. Elko also uses defensive end Cashius Howell in coverage as well.
“He’s putting more swag to it,” cornerback Will Lee III said of Elko’s third downs. “He’s just letting the D-line get their little different stunts and their different twists and everything like that and just letting them have fun and go at it.”
As Lee mentioned, third down has become an event within Kyle Field as well. On many third-and-long situations, Aggie DJ Mike cranks up student section favorite “Mo Bamba,” creating a loud environment for opposing offenses to work.
Players like Lee, linebackers Scooby Williams and Taurean York, as well as defensive linemen like Howell, Albert Regis and DJ Hicks are some of the reason third downs have improved with the Aggies. These veteran defenders are in their second year under Elko and have the ability to react without thinking as much in Year one.
“I think, as the guys continue to get more and more comfortable with what we’re asking, what they’re doing, I think we also have a better feel for who’s good at what,” Elko added. “That helps too, and so, it’s kind of a two-way street.”
Luckily for the Aggies, they will only face two Southeastern Conference opponents in the top five of third down conversion percentage the remainder of the season: No. 1 Missouri (61.6%) and Arkansas (58%).
This Saturday’s opponent, Mississippi State, ranks seventh in the SEC, converting 47% of its third-down attempts.
No matter the opponent’s success rate on that key down, Elko will continually scheme a way to get that one-man edge to get opposing offenses off the field.
“Third down is literally two-thirds of the game, because you can be off one first down, off one second down, win on third down and you’re off the field,” he said. “You can be great on first down, great on second down and lose third down and be on the field all day. So, it’s a huge part of the game.”
Copyright 2025 KBTX. All rights reserved.
