Win on Saturday would enable A&M to silence ever-present detractors

Ever have a date when the restaurant was great, the movie was good, the conversation was excellent, but still no kiss at the end?

That’s what Texas A&M’s football season would be like if the Aggies don’t win a playoff game.

It has been a great season for sure. The Aggies feasted on the competition in an 11-1 campaign. The highlight reels feature long runs, clutch passes, amazing catches and a spectacular fake punt. A&M had the whole country talking.

Still, if the No. 7 seed Aggies fall to No. 10 seed Miami on Saturday at Kyle Field in the first round of the CFP, it’ll be like a denial at the doorstep.

That’s not necessarily fair, of course. Fewer than a tithe of teams — 12 of 136 — get into the College Football Playoff.

A&M has posted its highest win total in over a decade, so this season cannot be considered a failure.

Local detractors and some national analysts and commentators will question whether the season was truly a success.

To some, only a national championship will be considered a success.

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Texas A&M has 11 wins for the first time since Johnny Manziel & Co. capped off an 11-2 season with a 41-13 bludgeoning of Oklahoma on Jan. 1, 2013.

Coach Mike Elko would remind them that the Aggies stumbled to a 7-6 finish before he took over the A&M program two years ago.

“We’re in Year 2,” Elko said. “We’re trying to establish a championship-type of program. We haven’t won a (national) championship around here since 1939.

“So, that’s a lot of busts if that’s the only marker. I think we’re obviously in this thing to compete for a national championship, for sure. We believe we can. We believe we’re one of the teams that’s capable of going out there and winning it, but I don’t know that you define seasons like that.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever checked off a box on a season like success/failure. I think you want to see growth. You want to see your program elevating in the direction you want it to go. You want to get yourself into the opportunity to compete for things down the stretch.

“Obviously, we’ve got a great opportunity Saturday.”

To Elko’s point, fifth-year defensive tackle Albert Regis has seen A&M go from an underachieving team that lost at home to Appalachian State in 2022 to a power that won at Notre Dame this season.

He admits surprise at the quick rise Elko has fostered.

“It’s been an adventure from where I started to everything we’ve been through, from the Texas Bowl to the Vegas Bowl,” Regis said. “Just the growth of this program for the five years I’ve been here… I’m blessed to say it’s been a fun ride.”

This season has indeed been fun. Critics, though, demand glory. They want prominence. They only equate success with conquest.

Throughout the season, detractors have tried to minimize A&M’s accomplishments.

A butt-hurt former NFL referee constantly questioned the validity of A&M’s victory over Notre Dame.

Cynics claimed A&M’s success was due to facing weak competition, while ignoring the fact that the Aggies’ schedule was ranked the nation’s fifth-toughest by ESPN.

The same cynics didn’t have the same criticism for other teams. For example, Texas Tech, which also posted 11 regular-season victories, was given a first-round bye in the playoffs despite not having as impressive wins as A&M and also losing to Arizona State, which lost to Mississippi State. A&M easily defeated Mississippi State.

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The Aggies won their first 11 games before falling at Texas in the regular-season finale.

Detractors ultimately presented a 27-17 loss to No. 14 Texas as evidence that the Aggies were overrated. They seemingly forgot that road losses at night to ranked SEC opponents are actually quite common.

“Obviously, we did not play a really good second half (vs. Texas),” Elko said. “We’ve looked at the tape. I think we’ve seen the areas that we were deficient and I think made the proper adjustments.

“I think, at the end of the day, we’re just excited to get back out on the field and, obviously, know that there’s a really big game in front of us to play on Saturday.”

The Aggies need to win that game. A victory continues A&M’s quest for a national championship. A victory sets up a Cotton Bowl clash with Ohio State. A victory further validates A&M’s spectacular season.

And a victory enables Aggies everywhere to tell the critics and detractors to kiss off.