COLLEGE STATION -- When Texas A&M quarterback Stephen McGee found a nasty note on his car after the team arrived home from its loss in Miami, offensive guard Kirk Elder could barely control his anger.

The Aggies are facing a number of distractions as they prepare to play Oklahoma State.

"That was despicable," Elder said.

Neither Elder nor McGee would divulge specifics of what the note said, other than it ripped the quarterback's level of play. McGee went 11-for-20 for 109 yards with an interception in the 34-17 loss.

Elder said the writer identified himself or herself as an Aggie, though no name was left. When McGee started reading it, Elder snatched it out of his hands. After he read it, he showed it to offensive tackle Corey Clark.

"We were both screaming and yelling," Elder said. "It was just bad."

McGee admitted the note upset him, but he shrugs it off now.

"It's just one of those things that happens in college football today," he said. "I'm sure Colt McCoy's getting it at Texas this week. The thing that always hurts most is when you hear that, knowing you went out there and gave it your very best.

"I just took a beating," he said. "I did that for my team and for this university. Whenever you get outside and you take another beating after the one you've already taken, that's tough. But you know what? That's part of college football."

McGee lashed out at the media and A&M's fans after Saturday's 34-10 win over Baylor, saying coach Dennis Franchione has been unfairly criticized. The loss to Miami restarted calls from fans for Franchione to be fired, and the outcry intensified last week when news broke that he was privately providing inside information to boosters via e-mail for $1,200 a year.

McGee said he's still not soured on A&M's impassioned fan base. "We have Aggies that stick by us through the good and the bad," he said. "There are so many great things about this place and this team. I'd hate for a stupid note by some person that's negative to override what's so positive. It's unfortunate all people care about are the negative things."

The Aggies (4-1, 1-0 Big 12) play Oklahoma State (3-2, 1-0) on Saturday.

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MORE FROM BYRNE: Athletic director Bill Byrne said the team's show of support for Dennis Franchione on Tuesday wasn't staged. The Aggies filled an auditorium and applauded when Franchione entered the room and stepped to a podium. Franchione said he had no intention of resigning and he embraced most of his players as they walked out of the room later.

"Sadly, I'm receiving messages from Aggies saying this was a contrived event," Byrne wrote in his weekly message posted on the A&M athletics Web site. "Not so. It came from the heart and soul of our players."

Franchione said Tuesday he has Byrne's backing. Byrne, who was in Washington, D.C., all week, released a statement later in the day, saying he never evaluates a coach until after the season. The statement stopped short of an endorsement of Franchione, and it also said he is looking into the e-mails the boosters were receiving.

Byrne said in his weekly message that "we are collecting all the information available, and it is my hope that we will have everything wrapped up and delivered to you and the media soon. We will keep you as informed as we possibly can when we can."

Byrne said he was concerned how the controversy and the persistent questions from reporters will affect the team.

"I've seen teams handle distractions like this in one of two ways," Byrne wrote. "They've either banded together and fought like banshees or lost their focus. If the Baylor game is any indication, the Aggie football team (coaches and players and staff together) have really banded together."

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IT'S ABOUT TIME: Texas A&M controlled the ball for 43 minutes, 18 seconds against Baylor, the highest single-game time of possession since 1985, when the school started tracking the statistic.

The Aggies, behind their bruising running game, led the nation in the category last season, averaging 33 minutes, 35 seconds per game. They've topped 35 minutes nine times since 2005 and won seven of those games.

"I think that's a formula for success for us," Dennis Franchione said. "I don't know how meaningful it is sometimes, but I think in our football team, time of possession has, in the last 18, 19 games proven pretty valuable."

The top five scoring teams in the Big 12 are also among the top 20 scoring teams in the country, and Franchione said controlling the clock is the best way for the Aggies to defend high-powered offenses.

"If we've got the ball, they can't score," he said. "There are some great offenses in this league right now. I think offenses may be a little ahead of defenses right now.

"As you look at each team you face, they have weapons, they have the ability to score fast," he said. "If you can hold onto the ball, you might be able to keep that from happening and make them play your pace of football in the game."

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QUOTABLE:@ "When a team like that gets cohesion, better look out. And they're definitely a 'look out' team right now." -- A&M defensive coordinator Gary Darnell, on Oklahoma State's offense.