ASU's defense turned in a formidable performance, but ultimately Texas A&M wore down the Sun Devils and used two quarterbacks en route to a 38-17 victory at NRG Stadium in Houston Saturday night.
With his team nursing a 17-14 lead midway through the fourth quarter, sophomore quarterback Kyle Allen ran it in from 12-yards out to put his Aggies up by ten.
That margin proved enough for the unranked Aggies to hold on for the upset as their defense turned in a solid performance of their own.
ASU's offense gave up seven sacks, turned the ball over twice and was unable to get much of anything going on the ground (just 92 yards) or the air (199 yards.) The unit that averaged over 400 yards per game last season picked up just 291 in their 2015 opener.
Junior kicker Zane Gonzalez drilled a field goal with just over four minutes left in the game to cut the Aggie lead down to 24-17, putting ASU's fate in the hands of the defense once again.
For the first time on the evening, the defense wasn't up the task. Freshman receiver Christian Kirk hauled in a 66-yard touchdown pass from Allen to pad the Aggie lead. It was Kirk's second touchdown of the game after returning a punt for a touchdown in the first half.
The Sun Devils showed signs of life at times, as in when redshirt senior Mike Bercovici faked out the Texas A&M defense with a pump fake then scrambled for a 19 yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter, but those flashes proved far too little to make much of a difference.
After cutting the Aggie lead to just three points, a costly roughing the punter penalty called against ASU redshirt freshman safety Colton Gerhart allowed Texas A&M's drive to continue.
Salamo Fiso then delivered what may have at that time been the most important defensive play of the game, wrapping up junior running back Tra Carson behind the line of scrimmage on fourth down to force a turnover on downs.
Despite an 18-yard Demario Richard run to kick off the ensuing drive, ASU couldn't capitalize on momentum and was forced to punt.
No series of plays more exemplified ASU's offensive struggles in the third quarter more than when Bercovici was flagged for intentional grounding which backed the team up to its own six-yard line.
Running back Demario Richard fumbled on the ensuing play and Texas A&M recovered at the four yard line.
Once again, the Sun Devil defense bailed out their offense by stifling three straight runs from Carson, forcing the Aggies to settle for a field goal.
But a 10-yard rushing touchdown by Carson with 1:38 iced the game and sealed the upset win.
Second half notes
- Bercovici's third quarter rushing touchdown was the first of his career.
- ASU allowed seven sacks to the Aggies. The Sun Devils gave up seven sacks twice last season, once to Washington and once to U of A.
- One of the nations' least-penalized teams in the Todd Graham era, ASU was hit with six flags and 45 penalty yards.
Reach the assistant sports editor at icbeck@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @ICBeck21.
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