It was a primetime matchup as #15 Arizona State played Texas A&M in a neutral site at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
The game started off kind of slow as the offenses did not find any rhythm and the special teams were on display as the teams traded punts to start. But it was the Aggies who struck first. They marched 96 yards, capped off by a screen pass from Kyle Allen to Tra Carson. Allen found Carson on the screen and he rounded the corner to the end zone for the nine-yard score.
It seemed logical to think that once A&M's offense got going that Arizona State would match that. But the Sun Devils went three and out and punted the ball for Christian Kirk. Kirk took the ball, went right, broke a tackle and followed a caravan of tacklers to the house as he returned the punt 79 yards to give A&M the two score lead.
Marc Bercovici and the ASU offense went cold again and had to give the ball back to Texas A&M. Another score would have made it very hard for ASU to come back but Sam Christian sack striped Allen and JD Alexander pounced on the ball and returned it to the four-yard line for ASU. Bercovici hit Kody Kohl right after that and Arizona State was right back in the game.
With its own offense sputtering, Kevin Sumlin decided to bring in Kyler Murray, a true freshman, in at quarterback for Allen. But he did not provide the spark that A&M were looking for but Arizona State struggled as well and the half ended with the score of 14-7 Aggies.
Allen was back for the start of the third quarter. He started off with a completed pass to start the A&M drive but the problem was it was straight to ASU's Kweishi Brown, who gave Arizona State good field position to begin their drive. But Bercovici fumbled the very next play and A&M caught a break.
Once again, a switch at QB was made as Murray came back but he struggled with the offense again and threw an interception. The signs were there for Arizona State to get back into this game but they turned it over inside their own five-yard line. Demario Richard had the fourth turnover of the third quarter and gave A&M great field position but they only got a field goal out of it.
But Arizona State came back with a solid drive of their own as Bercovici scampered in for a 19-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 17-14. With Arizona State coming back, things got worse when Murray was hampered by leg issues and Allen had to come back in. But he responded to Bercovici with a 12-yard touchdown run of his own.
Arizona State came right back down to get a field goal as they tried to creep back closer into the game. But Christian Kirk ended all hopes of that when he took an Allen screen pass 66 yards to the house for his second touchdown of the night to cap off a less than perfect night for A&M as they upset the 15th ranked team in the country.