COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M forced three turnovers on three straight Arizona State possessions in the fourth quarter Saturday, returned two of them for touchdowns, and pulled away from a four-point game for a 48-20 win at Kyle Field. The Aggies moved to 2-0 in front of an announced 107,523 following an 11 a.m. CT kickoff on ABC.
Four turnovers produced 24 points, Texas A&M coach Mike Elko said afterward.
“I thought the story of the game was really simple. We have a winning football formula and we followed that to a tee,” Elko said. “Win the turnover margin. We did it 4-1.”
Marcel Reed threw three touchdown passes and finished 15-of-25 for 163 yards with one interception. The senior quarterback added 17 rushing yards. Texas A&M gained 271 yards of total offense and committed one penalty for five yards.
Elko declined to assess Reed’s performance at the podium.
“Yeah, not today,” Elko said. “We’ll take a look at the film and go from there.”
Marco Jones and Julio Humphrey Return Interceptions for Touchdowns
Leading 31-20 midway through the fourth quarter, Texas A&M lost the ball when Tyler White dropped a snap on a punt and Arizona State recovered at the Aggies’ 34. T.J. Searcy hit Cutter Boley as he threw on the next snap. Marco Jones came down with the ball and ran 55 yards to make it 38-20.
Jones had not scored on an interception return since high school.
“That play doesn’t happen without T.J.,” Jones said. “He gets home, does everything he needs to do, reaches, gets the ball up in the air. And then I just kind of, time kind of just slowed down a little bit, and I was like, I just gotta go get it, and I went and got it, just started running and then I was in the end zone.”
Jones said he checked over his shoulder the whole way.
“I kept, like, peeking back because I felt somebody running behind me, and I was like, all right, I just cannot let them catch me,” Jones said.
Sam M’Pemba forced a fumble on the next Arizona State possession, punching the ball loose after several Aggies had the ballcarrier held up. David Olano converted a 39-yard field goal to make it 41-20 with just under six minutes to play.
Julio Humphrey intercepted Boley later in the quarter and returned it 45 yards to set the final margin. Humphrey played 157 snaps across 10 games last season and did not record an interception.
“Honestly, I didn’t see it. It was like I was looking elsewhere and the quarterback just kind of came down and threw it and probably didn’t make the best decision throwing that ball out to the flat like he did,” Elko said. “Another kid, right, who didn’t have the role that he wanted last year, didn’t play at the level that he wanted, we wanted, didn’t get the reps, all of those things. And, you know, to his credit, stays, went to work, had a really, really strong offseason, and has become a really, really good corner.”
Safety Dalton Brooks has played alongside Humphrey since Humphrey enrolled in January 2025.
“He’s a guy that’s been here, and he’s been playing for us for a few years now,” Brooks said. “So just to see him make a play like that, it was good to see.”
Jones finished with four tackles, 1.0 sack, one forced fumble, and the interception return. Marcus Ratcliffe led the defense with seven tackles.
Isaiah Horton Catches Two Touchdown Passes on Three Receptions
Isaiah Horton caught 3 passes and 2 of them went for touchdowns, from 4 yards and 13 yards. He scored once in his Texas A&M debut a week earlier following his transfer from Alabama. The second score came on third down, with Horton getting his feet down along the back line.
“We needed that big receiver, right? And you saw where the big receiver can help you in the red zone,” Elko said. “That’s a one-on-one ball that he goes down and does a great job making a contested catch and keeping his feet.”
Terry Bussey carried the ball, returned punts, and converted a fourth-and-1. Seven Aggies caught passes.
“Fourth and one. Needed a yard. I had to get it,” Bussey said.
Bussey described the offense’s first quarter as slow.
“We weren’t playing Aggie football, and then we had to get it going,” Bussey said. He defined the term as “tough, nasty, physical, dominant.”
Texas A&M scored first after TK Norman ran down a punt and recovered a muff inside the 10 on the opening possession of the game. Norman was playing gunner because Myles Davis went down in practice last week and the staff wanted to reduce Brooks’ special teams reps. Three plays later, Rueben Owens II scored on a 2-yard run with 4:55 left in the first quarter.
Arizona State also attempted a fake punt, which Texas A&M stopped. Jones said the Sun Devils tipped it with their alignment.
“They have a very specific formation that they run. When they weren’t lined up in that, it was a telltale sign,” Jones said. “As soon as they broke the huddle, it was like, all right, that guy’s not where he normally is.”
Reed Harris Sets Career Highs in Arizona State Loss
Boley was 21-of-34 for 254 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. In Week 1 he threw six touchdown passes against Morgan State in his Sun Devils debut after transferring from Kentucky.
Reed Harris set career highs with 9 receptions and 189 yards. The Boston College transfer caught two touchdown passes for the second straight week after posting 137 yards and two scores in the opener.
Harris tied the game at 7-7 on a 21-yard reception in the closing seconds of the first quarter. Horton’s 4-yard catch capped a 13-play, 75-yard drive that put Texas A&M back in front. Carson Smith cut it to 14-10 on a 30-yard field goal with 6:15 remaining in the second quarter, and Olano answered from 22 yards for a 17-10 halftime lead.
Lyrik Rawls made a diving interception on Reed’s first throw of the second half. Smith converted from 35 yards on the possession that followed to make it 17-13. Horton scored again with 5:53 left in the third quarter, and Harris then got in front of Brooks and outran him for a 58-yard touchdown that made it 24-20.
Arizona State built much of that production out of rub and pick concepts against man coverage.
“They did a really, really good job rubbing us in man-to-man. They were doing a really good job of identifying when we were in man and creating some different picks and rubs that we hadn’t seen,” Elko said. “It felt like in the first half we were constantly adjusting, adjusting, adjusting.”
Brooks said the secondary settled it after halftime.
“That was good by them, good coaching, and we just adjusted,” Brooks said. “They had a good concept going, but we adjusted to it and figured it out.”
Elko said the defense was running something close to a different scheme by the middle of the third quarter, and credited the rotation for holding up in the heat. Texas A&M played three cornerbacks, three linebackers, and roughly 10 or 11 defensive linemen.
On the second play of the fourth quarter, Reed found Mario Craver for 33 yards and a 31-20 lead.
Texas A&M opens SEC play against Kentucky at Kyle Field next Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT on ESPN or ESPN2. The Aggies are 2-1 all-time against the Wildcats. Arizona State (1-1) opens Big 12 play against Kansas in the Union Jack Classic at Wembley Stadium in London the same day.
