Texas A&M football emerged from their top non-conference tilt of the season with a victory, winning 48-20 over the Arizona State Sun Devils and kneeling it out in the red zone at the end of the game. Despite the win— and the cover, as it happens— the Aggie faithful were less than pleased with the way this one turned out, especially in the first half.
The Aggies entered the break with a 17-10 lead and were set to receive the kickoff after half, but an interception that gave Arizona State the ball on the first possession made Aggie fans feel like they were in for a long day. It was pretty much all Texas A&M from that point on, though, as A&M eventually pulled away for a sizeable home win over a power conference opponent.
Even with what ended up as a big win for the Aggies, there are still quite a few things that the Aggies needed to work on that were made evident by this game. There was a lot of meat left on the bone for A&M in this one, in other words.
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The biggest issue that was evident for the Aggies was their offensive line in pass protection. Arizona State was overcommitting their resources to the box for a lot of the game, but there were still just too many snaps where rushers came free thanks to miscommunication up front.
The line began to really lean on the Sun Devils in the run game in the second half, but the first-half performance against the pass rush left a lot to be desired— and it didn’t do a lot to help Marcel Reed settle down after a shaky start.
Reed had a very uneven day overall, finishing 15/25 for 163 yards, although he did end up with three touchdowns. The Aggies had some fortunate bounces, including a kick that was muffed inside the ten by Arizona State, and they capitalized, but the way Reed was playing overall was certainly concerning.
There were a few plays where he got happy feet or got way too locked on to a downfield receiver. When Arizona State dropped into the shells and kept things conservative, he was about 50/50 whether he would take the check down or not— this was a big area where he needed to grow last season, and his first big test was not exactly passed with flying covers.
There were a couple of impressive throws, too. The throw to the tight end on the move, as well as the fade route to Isaiah Horton in the end zone showed what Aggie fans have to be excited about— but that was not consistently on display today.
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— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) September 12, 2026
The defense had some issues as well, despite finishing the day with multiple defensive touchdowns. There were too many snaps where Cutter Boley felt comfortable, especially early on, and was able to pick the Aggies apart downfield.
A&M ended up suffocating ASU in the second half defensively, but there were a few concerning things like that. Hopefully, though, that can be fixed in the coming weeks.
There are not too many things you can complain about in a 28-point win (albeit one where you gained fewer than 300 yards), but it’s clear that there is some work that the Aggies need to do. They’ll have one more game before their huge test on the road in Death Valley, so we’ll see what Mike Elko and company can get done before that point.
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