Arizona State vs. Texas A&M: Game Grades, Analysis for Aggies and Sun Devils

The Texas A&M Aggies were able to get their 2015 season off on the right foot as they defeated Arizona State 38-17 on Saturday night. Both teams had their good and bad moments, but the Aggies outplayed the Sun Devils on offense, defense and special teams.

Here are game grades for the Sun Devils and the Aggies.

Positional Unit	1st-Half Grade	Final Grade
Pass Offense	B	C-
Run Offense	C	C+
Pass Defense	B	B-
Run Defense	B	C
Special Teams	D	D
Coaching	C	D

Pass Offense: Sun Devils quarterback Mike Bercovici was solid, but he could have been a lot better. He was 25-of-41 for 199 yards and one touchdown. The biggest issue was that Bercovici was sacked eight times, and six of the sacks came from the starting defensive ends. The other issue was his receivers dropped too many wide-open passes, which stalled drives.

Run Offense: Demario Richard had 73 yards on 16 carries, and he was the only one who got anything going in the run game. Again, the Aggies defensive front seven was able to bottle up the run game, which is why the Sun Devils rushed for 100 yards. That is something they will need to work on when they face conference opponents.

Pass Defense: Overall, it was an OK night for the pass defense, but they gave up too many big plays in the end. One of the key plays was when Aggies quarterback Kyle Allen threw a screen pass to Christian Kirk and went 66 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. It was a back breaker for the Sun Devils from which they could never recover.

Run Defense: The Sun Devils run defense was decent, but they had no answer for quarterback Kyler Murray. He rushed for 69 yards, and he did it with his ability to scramble. That led to Tra Carson running hard in the second half, and he finished with 96 yards on the ground.

Special Teams: Another aspect that hurt the Sun Devils is the return game. Kirk had two punt returns for 82 yards, and one of his returns went for a score. The punt game was solid, though, as Matt Haack had 42 yards per punt. The problem was he had 10 punts, which is too many.

Coaching: Todd Graham is a good coach, but it almost looked at times like his team was not sure what to do. A lot of it had to do with the debut of Murray, but his receivers dropped passes, the run game was inconsistent and there were too many special teams breakdowns. That said, they did stay in the game until the fourth quarter. They just need to tighten some things up and they’ll be a better team moving forward.

Positional Unit	1st-Half Grade	Final Grade
Pass Offense	C	B
Run Offense	B	B+
Pass Defense	A+	A+
Run Defense	A+	A
Special Teams	A	A
Coaching	B	A

Pass Offense: Allen struggled to start the game but settled in as the game rolled on. He ended the night with 198 yards and two touchdowns. Murray was not as sharp, throwing for 49 yards and one interception.

Run Offense: The Aggies aren’t a run-oriented team, but they were strong in that department on Saturday night. Murray had 69 rushing yards on six carries, and Carson had 96 yards on 29 carries. His workman-like approach was key when the Aggies needed to wear the Sun Devils down.

Pass Defense: This was the reason the Aggies won on Saturday night. Myles Garrett notched two sacks, while Daeshon Hall tallied four. They constantly pressured Bercovici, who could never get anything going. It was a great debut for the new-look defense.

Run Defense: The Sun Devils only got 92 yards on the ground because the Aggies did not miss tackles. Armani Watts notched 10 stops, while Justin Evans added nine. Hall and Garrett had a combined 15 tackles to go along with their six sacks.

Special Teams: Kirk was big for the Aggies with his two punt returns. Those plays came at key moments in the game, especially the first one when he went 79 yards for the score early in the second quarter. Drew Kaser was big in the punting game, averaging 52 yards per punt.

Coaching: Kevin Sumlin did a good job of switching quarterbacks when he needed to. When Murray went in the game, that gave the Aggies a spark. And that led to Allen being able to move the ball better than he did to start the game. Defensive coordinator John Chavis had a strong debut. His unit was able to stop the run and get after the quarterback. Those are two things the Aggies need to do in order to win the SEC West.