Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko was honest after Saturday’s 17-7 loss to the Texas Longhorns in College Station.

Elko admitted the loss will “haunt” him and the team as they failed to secure a spot in the SEC Championship.

“Anyone who is familiar with the program knows this and is confident in the direction it is going. But that doesn’t change the fact that we had the opportunity to do something really special this year and we couldn’t do it,” Elko said. “And that will haunt me, that will haunt us, that will haunt the players. We had chances, but we just couldn’t do it. Unfortunately that’s part of football and life, but that doesn’t make it any easier and certainly doesn’t make it acceptable.

The Aggies had a chance for a historic season. A win in a heated rematch would have been a springboard to championship-level goals. Instead, Texas A&M feels empty after losing almost everything in front of it.

“We lost our last three conference games and couldn’t close the deal and go to Atlanta. Yes. I mean, it sucks,” Elko said. “There is no sugarcoating it. There are no mild words about it. We had our chances, but we didn’t make it. And that’s why it’s disappointing.”

Texas A&M had its chances. Two fourth-down stops by the Texas defense gave the Longhorns life and ultimately made the difference in a game while the Aggies’ offense couldn’t score points.

Texas A&M now awaits its bowl opponent.

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