Three takeaways from Texas A&M vs. UTSA: Mike Elko's 4D chess move and more

Three takeaways from Texas A&M's dominant win over UTSA: Mike Elko's game plan, penalties, and more

Texas A&M defeated UTSA soundly in Kyle Field last night in a game that was 42-17 until the backups gave up a touchdown in the final moments. The Aggies had some bumps along the way, but all things considered, it was a decent starting point for the Aggies this year.

But what do we take forward into next week and what do we leave behind? Let's take a look at what the Aggies put out on the field and what we need to remember.

Was Mike Elko playing 4D chess against UTSA?

Hear me out here: I think there may have been some forward-looking mentality in this game from Elko when it comes to the offensive approach (and even defense, to a degree). The Aggies ran the ball only 8 total times with their top two backs all game, and there was a good deal of shuffling with the offensive line up front.

So what does this mean? We know the top group for the offensive line pretty well, and we know the best backs on this team— why waste time experimenting?

Well, given the relative difficulty of this game compared to Notre Dame, it seems like the Aggies were more interested in seeing what they had through the air instead of on the ground. And they saw a lot of good, there: the Aggies racked up quite a day via the pass, and Marcel looked very sharp.

This also helps serve the purpose of not showing too much to future opponents like ND. That's just a bonus here, but it deserves mention.

Penalties need to be cleaned up

The Aggies were flagged 7 times for 50 total yards, which more than once absolutely destroyed a drive they had going. This could have been an even more decisive victory had they avoided these deleterious developments.

This was a crew tightly-attuned to possible holding by the Aggies, but looked the other way more than once on some judgment calls against the Roadrunners— including what clearly should have been a pass interference against Ashton Bethel-Roman.

In any case, though, the operation must be cleaner for the Aggies. They have to be able to pull things off impeccably if they're going to take down Notre Dame in a couple of weeks.

Texas A&M can play the right defense when they need to

There was a lot of great stuff on offense, and it looks like that unit really is for real this year. However, the defense had some fans despondent in the second quarter and just barely into the third.

At that point, though, it's like they decided to stop messing around. All of a sudden, the run fits were better, the tackling was sure, and the roadrunners were stymied.

We see the Aggies playing the kind of defense that they'll need to if they want to realize their dreams this season, in other words. They need to stay disciplined and gap sound if things are going to move forward this year.