Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images / Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 5, 2026; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko walks onto the field during a time-out in the first quarter against the Missouri State Bears at Kyle Field. A photo of an LSU Tigers helmet has also been added to the top-left portion of the image.
The already highly anticipated rivalry game between Texas A&M and LSU on Sept. 26 just became even more intriguing thanks to comments from Aggies head coach Mike Elko.
The Tigers and Aggies are both expected to be contenders for the College Football Playoff spot, if not contenders to win the whole thing. And their scheduled showdown at Tiger Stadium will be the 64th meeting between the programs, with the rivalry dating back to 1899.
So it’s clear that there’s no love lost between the two teams, especially after the 42-25 victory for Texas A&M a year ago. But now Elko has given Lane Kiffin and the Tigers even more reason to go all in on the game.
Mike Elko Says The SEC Had To Step In And Parent LSU Over NFL Player Saga
LSU recently filled the final spots on its 105-player roster, leaving no room for former NFL players Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris. The move essentially put to bed the Tigers’ fight with the SEC and NCAA to have the players deemed eligible, despite the fact that they’d previously signed NFL contracts.
Beforehand, the SEC had proposed the idea of kicking LSU out of the conference altogether should they continue to fight against the conference’s rules. Elko knows that was never going to happen.
“LSU will be in the SEC,” he told reporters. “LSU will be fired up when we go to Baton Rouge in a couple weeks. All of those things are going to happen. This is just a little bit of parenting going on right now.”
But Elko also made a point to state that the Tigers were acting like children, forcing the SEC to step in and act as a parental figure.
“This is a little bit like the son figuring out where the limits are until dad comes home and raises his voice, and then the son goes, ‘I was just kidding, I didn’t mean any of that,’” he said. “I think that’s what you’re seeing.”
Elko’s analogy is incredibly accurate. The Tigers tried to push the limits of what they could get away with and got their hands swatted by the parent conference.
But something tells us LSU won’t take too kindly to being told it was acting like a child.