AggieHuddle.com’s breakdown of the matchup between No. 10 Texas A&M (1-0) and ARizona State (1-0) begins with a look at the Aggie offense against the Sun Devils defense.

Where, When, Weather and TV

Where: Kyle Field, College Station, Texas

When: 11 a.m. central time Saturday, Sept. 12

Weather: Extremely hot, high of 97; heat indices nearing 110

TV: ABC (Tom Hart, Play-by-play; Jesse Palmer, analyst; Kris Budden, sideline)

Point spread

A&M -14.5

Texas A&M offensive depth chart

QB

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
10	Marcel Reed	6-1, 185	Sr.
13	Brady Hart	6-4, 200	So.
16	Helaman Casuga	6, 213	Fr.

RB

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
4	Rueben Owens	5-11, 215	Sr.
OR 2	Jamarion Morrow	5-9, 200	So.
22	Carsyn Baker	6, 210	Fr.
OR 0	KJ Edwards	5-10, 197	Fr.

WR 

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
1	Mario Craver	5-9, 180	Jr.
11	Kelshaun Johnson	5-11, 173	So.

WR

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
7	Isaiah Horton	6-4, 215	Gr.
3	Aaron Gregory	6-2, 191	Fr.
OR 81	Jayden Warren	6-1, 214	Fr.

WR

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
8	Ashton Bethel-Roman	6, 193	Jr.
OR 6	Terry Bussey	5-10, 205	Jr.
18	TK Norman	6, 186	So.

TE

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
88	Micah Riley	6-5, 263	5th
OR 84	Richie Anderson	6-4, 265	Sr.
OR 87	Houston Thomas	6-5, 252	Gr.
OR 9	Kiotti Armstrong	6-5, 285	So.

LT

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
71	Tyree Adams	6-7, 305	Sr.
79	Lamont Rogers	6-6, 340	So.

LG

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
52	Blake Ivy	6-3, 324	Jr.
OR 77	Tyler Thomas	6-4, 350	So.

C

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
54	Mark Nabou Jr.	6-4, 307	Gr.
78	Coen Echols	6-4, 305	Jr.
54	Sam Roseborough	6-3, 303	Fr..

RG

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
76	Trovon Baugh	6-4, 335	Gr.
OR 78	Coen Echols	6-4, 305	Jr.

RT

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
75	Wilkin Formby	6-7, 320	Gr.
70	Robert Bourdon	6-6, 312	Jr.
74	Zaden Krempin	6-4, 298	Fr.

Texas A&M injury report

RB Tiger Riden and WR Madden Williams are out for the season. No other injuries reported.

Texas A&M statistical leaders

Passing: Reed, 21-30, 233 yards, 2 TD

Hart, 4-8, 36 yards, 1 TD

Rushing: 17 carries, 77 yards

Baker, 7 carries, 52 yards, 1 TD

Edwards, 5 carries, 44 yards

Morrow, 8 carries, 29 yards, 1 TD

Receiving: Horton, 4 catches, 76 yards, 1 TD

Craver, 5 catches, 41 yards, 1 TD

Bussey, 3 catches, 34 yards

Arizona State Depth Chart

DE

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
5	Roman Pitre	6-5. 255	So.
4	Emar’rion Winston	6-3, 275	So.

DT

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
99	C.J. Fite	6-2, 305	Sr.
92	Zac Swanson	6-5, 295	Jr.

DT

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
97	Blazen Lono-Wong	6-4. 290	Jr.
95	Jeffrey Manns	6-2, 299	Jr.

DE

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
9	Jalen Thompson	6-3, 260	Sr.
10	Clayton Smith	6-4, 232	6th

WILL

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
8	Martrell Hughes	6-2, 220	Jr.
13	Prayer Young-Blackgoat	6-3, 225	So.

MIKE

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
22	Owen Long	6-2, 230	Jr.
45	Tristan Bacon	6-1, 240	Fr.

NICKEL

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
7	Montana Warren	6, 200	Jr.
12	Ben Alefaio-Lilli	6, 200	Fr.

CB

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
0	Rodney Bimage	6, 190	So.
19	Daquan Dunn	6, 175	Fr.

SS

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
2	Lyrik Rawls	6-1, 205	Gr.
21	Kyan McDonald	5-11, 180	Jr.

FS

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
6	Adrian Wilson	6, 210	Jr.
23	Jessiah McGrew	6-2, 185	So.

CB

Number	Name	Height/Weight	Class
1	Ashton Stamps	6, 190	Jr.
23	Caleb Chester	6-1, 179	Fr.

Arizona State injury update

No reported injuries.

Arizona State statistical leaders

Tackles: Alefaio-Lilli, 5

Long, Chester and Young-Blackgoat, 4

Tackles for loss: Thompson and Smith, 1

Sacks: Thompson and Smith, 1

Head-to-HeAD

Stat	Texas A&M offense	National/SEC rank	Stat	Arizona State defense	National/Big 12 rank
Scoring offense	50 PPG	29th/10th	Scoring defense	7 PPG	25th/4th
Total offense	505 YPG	42nd/10th	Total defense	188 PPG	27th/5th
Rushing offense	236 YPG	39/7th	Rushing defense	102 YPG	62nd/11th
Passing offense	269 YPG	51st/11th	Passing yards allowed	86 YPG	12th/4th
First downs	35	13th/2nd	First downs allowed	11	26th/4th
Third down conversion %	50%	44th/11th	Third down defense	25%	33rd/6th
Red zone conversion %	87.5%	72nd/12th	Red zone defense	100%	73rd/10th
Tackles for loss allowed	4	50th/8th	Team tackles for loss/game	2	124th/16th
Sacks allowed	2	82nd/14th	Team sacks per game	2	49th/12th
Turnovers	1	47th/6th	Turnovers forced	0	NR
Turnover +/-	Plus-1	29th/3rd	Turnover +/-	-1	90th/13th
TOP	43:03	2nd/1st	TOP	29:48	81st/13th

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What A&M wants to do

Probably do things a lot like last week, and why not? The Aggies will likely open up the playbook some, but the idea of consuming clock with long drives and physical football is always an effective idea — especially in the heat (and, perhaps more importantly here, the humidity).

The Aggies did a good job with motion against Missouri State, forcing defensive adjustments before the snap. I expect that, along with the two tight overload on one side, to continue Saturday (and all season long). I do think there will be more RPO action to make things more complex for the Sun Devils.

Arizona State has two really good corners. A&M has four really good receivers. It won’t be as easy as last week, but the Aggies will mix things up with the short game and take their shots down the field. If Mario Craver is in the slot, that could be an issue for the Sun Devils. They may have to double him with a safety.

But where this game has to be taken control of is in the trenches. The Aggies need to take control of the line of scrimmage immediately, communicate well up front and effectively adjust to Arizona State’s stunts, twists and blitzes. The Sun Devils have experience, but not a lot of time together upfront. They also don’t have a ton of depth. If the Aggies can put a hat on a hat and push ASU around, that will be a huge difference maker in the heat.

How Arizona State may try to counter

Movement, confusion and causing the Aggies to make mistakes. Brian Ward runs a 4-2-5, and (stop me if you’ve heard this before) likes to be aggressive. Normally, the Sun Devils like to get tricky up front, with stunts and twists, and they’ll blitz from all over. The biggest issue the Aggies had with Missouri State was their stunt game, where they would move the end inside and blitz in the guard-center gap. That led to one sack and other pressures. ASU will likely try to exploit that potential weakness, even if the Aggies put a stop to it before halftime.

Arizona State was very vanilla against Morgan State, and there was no reason for them not to be. That was a team that was totally overmatched. But Ward’s reputation precedes him, so the Aggies will know he’s going to turn things up several notches this weekend.

The Sun Devils will attack a lot because they believe in their corners in man coverage. Ashton Stamps, who played against A&M in 2024 with LSU, and Rodney Bimage are the two starters and Aggie Coach Mike Elko called them “NFL corners” this week. So they may gamble some and play more man in an effort to get after Reed. But, considering Reed thrives against Man and has more trouble with zone defenses, confusion will be the key.

The Sun Devils did allow Morgan State to average 4.1 yards a carry, so that’s something they’ll need to improve. They’re likely going to try to do that with six players in a 4-2-5, but they have two pretty big safeties as well. But if they start to move a safety up into the box consistently, that’s asking for real trouble.