Texas A&M HC Mike Elko reveals 'the biggest thing' that turned Aggies into undefeated College Football Playoff contender

The Texas A&M Aggies are putting together a season for the ages. Another week, another massive SEC win as Mike Elko and the Aggies head into their bye week to prepare for a final push toward the College Football Playoff.

How did this happen? How did the Aggies go from consistent SEC disappointment to legitimate national title contender? Mike Elko shared the biggest difference that he and his staff prioritized when he joined the team, and exactly what continues to set the Aggies apart every single week this season: explosive playmakers.

Key facts & stats from Texas A&M win over LSU

• Five different Texas A&M players logged receptions of 17 yards or more, four of them caught at least one pass for over 20 yards
• Six different Aggies players logged a carry of at least 10 yards
• Aggies QB Marcel Reed averaged 8.3 yards per carry and more than 9.6 yards per pass attempt on his more than 300 yards of offense
• Texas A&M scored 35 unanswered points in the second half, taking their lead all the way up to 49-18 before LSU scored a touchdown in junk time

Mike Elko believes explosive playmakers have been the key to Texas A&M Aggies success

The Aggies had always done a good job on the recruiting front, bringing in stacked classes full of talent, but for whatever reason they had recently lacked explosive playmakers and consistent results from them prior to Mike Elko's arrival at Texas A&M. When asked about the explosive playmakers on Saturday that turned A&M's win over LSU into an embarrassing blow out for Brian Kelly and the Tigers, Elko revealed that adding explosive playmakers was the biggest thing he focused on immediately, and wow has that paid off:

"That's the biggest thing that we talked about having to do to flip where we were trying to go. If you look at the teams that have won the SEC, the teams that have gone far in the playoffs, they have explosive playmakers on offense that can take a game over. We felt like it was critical when I took over that we added those elements. It was really, really important. Now we have them. We have a lot of them. We have them in the back field. We have them at wide receiver. We have them at quarterback with the ball in his hands every play. I think that makes us a really challenging offense to defend because we can come at you so many different ways."

Mike Elko isn't kidding. A&M has a lot of explosive playmakers at every position on offense. Rueben Owens, Le'Veon Moss (when healthy), Jamarion Morrow, Amari Daniels, and E.J. Smith in the back field. Mario Craver and KC Concepcion at wide receiver, creating one of the most productive, explosive pass-catching duos in the country. Then Marcel Reed at quarterback. It's no wonder the Aggies scored 35 unanswered points in the second half Saturday.