(Photo: Tyler Paley/WCSN)
The No. 15 Arizona State Sun Devils dropped their season opener in large part due to the play of two players from the Valley of the sun.
Texas A&M quarterback Kyle Allen and wide receiver Christian Kirk, were the top rated recruits in Arizona in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
Both decided to play for the Aggies instead of Arizona State, and both had signature plays that sealed the 38-17 win.
“Kyle’s a heck of a quarterback. I think what we do is really hard on quarterbacks, and obviously that wasn’t a very good offensive night for anybody. But I thought he did a good job,” ASU head coach Todd Graham said. “I want to congratulate Christian Kirk, a great young man who I had the privilege to recruit. He had an unbelievable night.”
Allen threw for 198 yards and two touchdowns and also ran one in. Kirk finished with over 200 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns.
“(Kirk’s) a good player. I just think it came down to us making mistakes,” safety Jordan Simone said. “Obviously he had a couple of good runs, but if you look back at those plays, there are missed tackles, and that’s something that’s a critical error in our defense, and something that we’ll get fixed and corrected and we’ll move forward.”
Offensively, Arizona State struggled to get anything going. Quarterback Mike Bercovici was held to 199 passing yards and was sacked nine times. Defensive ends Daeshon Hall and Myles Garrett combined for six of those sacks.
“Definitely got to give a lot of credit to their pass rush. They did a good job,” Bercovici said. “Our tackles did a good job, offensive linemen worked their tail off all game. There were some flashes of us doing some good things, running the ball and moving the ball down the field fast. But at the end of the day, we didn’t come out ahead, and we’ve got to move forward from it.”
The Sun Devils trailed 17-14 with three minutes left in the third quarter. After a pair of three and outs from both teams, Allen was able to lead the Aggies on a nine-play, 84-yard drive that he capped off with a 12-yard rushing touchdown.
The Sun Devils countered with a Zane Gonzalez field goal to make it 24-17 with 4:16 left to play. But, on the ensuing Aggie possession, Allen hit Kirk who took it 66 yards for the game clinching touchdown. Once the game was out of reach, Aggie running back Tra Carson scored from 10 yards out to make it 38-17.
“That was the critical drive. I mean it was 24-17 with four minutes left. That was it,” Graham said. “He makes a good throw on the curl and then we blow a coverage, and they capitalize on it. They were the better team tonight.”
Next up, Arizona State hosts Cal Poly on Saturday.
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Notes:
- ASU is now 0-5 all time against SEC opponents
- Bercovici’s 19-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter was the longest run of his career.
- The Aggies’ nine sacks were the most since they’ve had in a game since they posted 10 in 1995 against Texas Tech.
- The Aggies’ 14 tackles for loss are the most in the Kevin Sumlin era.
