The Texas A&M Aggies lost a heartbreaker on Friday night in the Las Vegas Bowl, blowing a three-score lead to the USC Trojans.

And if you ask Aggies head coach Mike Elko, there was one glaring issue that led to their collapse – the pass defense.

“The story of the game is the story of our season,” Elko said. “We can’t cover the forward pass well enough to be a good football team. That is my fault.”

To be fair, Elko is not wrong. It has been an issue for the team all season.

The Aggies ended the year ranked 91st of 134 FBS teams in pass defense, giving up an average of 232.2 yards per game, and surrendering 20 touchdown passes this season. It was much the same here as well. For the game, USC quarterback Jayden Maiava completed 22 of 39 passes for 295 yards and four touchdowns.

Meanwhile, the Trojans also had two receivers go off against the Aggie pass defense, with wide receiver Ja’Kobi Lane racking up seven catches for 127 yards and three of those scores, and Makai Lemon adding six catches for 99 yards. Tight end Kyle Ford also had six catches for 59 yards and the game-winning touchdown.

Despite all that, the Aggies had their opportunities to win the game, with Marcel Reed leading the team down the field for the go-ahead score with just under two minutes to go in the game.

But as has been the case all year, Elko knew the Aggies would be in trouble after giving the Trojans a chance to answer going back the other way.

“I have a lot of apprehension when the other team is going to drop back and throw the ball,” Elko said. “I have had apprehension all season. Starting with Florida we got lucky. Starting against Missouri we got lucky. LSU threw for 400 yards. It’s been a problem all season. It’s on me and I’ve got to fix it.”

It should be noted that the Aggies were down multiple bodies in the secondary as well. Starting corner Will Lee III was out with an injury, as was his backup Jayvon Thomas, forcing BJ Mayes to play corner for the first time all season.

But, that was far from the only problem.

So what exactly went wrong on Friday night? Well, the same issues they have had all season.

According to Elko, the Aggies’ pass defense issues begin with understanding the basic fundamentals of playing zone coverage. And that lack of ability to play zone effectively has forced the Aggies to play far too much man coverage, which can be taxing on a secondary.

Whether it be spacing, zone assignments or simply giving up big plays, Texas A&M has been perplexed all season long – to the point where Elko is simply mind blown.

“So many things,” Elko said “Fundamentally, understanding of how we can’t play zone coverage. Every time we play zone coverage, we give up big plays. We have no concept of space. We have no concept of zone coverage, no concept of what we are doing. We have to play man-to-man all the time. We do not understand how to play zone coverage, which is mind-blowing to me.”

Obviously, this is going to be a major priority for the Aggies this offseason. And they have already started to work on that problem, bringing in former Georgia corner Julian Humphrey via the portal. They are also in pursuit of the portal’s top corner, Arizona transfer Tacario Davis, and will likely search for additional help as well.

But, the Aggies will also have a lot to work on as far as understanding their assignments and playing good fundamental football in the secondary. They will also likely have to go back to the drawing board and simplify things until they are able to make those adjustments.

The good news is, these things can be fixed. Just look at the Texas Longhorns, who went from being ranked No. 116 in the country against the pass in 2023, to ranking No. 2 in the nation in 2024. Iowa State is another example, going from 73rd in the nation in 2023 to No. 3 in 2024. The Washington Huskies also had a meteoric jump from No. 120 to No. 5 in the country.

So yes, it can be done.

And Mike Elko is taking it upon himself to make sure the Aggies have a similar rise in 2025.

“I won’t watch a defense play like this ever again,” Elko said.