Arizona State overcomes sloppy play to earn 24-17 win over Kansas in London

For the first time ever, a college football game has been played in London. And until the next one, all the English will know is that the Sun Devils win football games. Arizona State emerged victorious, beating the Jayhawks 24-17 in the very first iteration of the Union Jack Classic.

It was an ugly win, but a win nonetheless.

Things started out slow. Kansas went three-and-out on the opening drive, and a 10-play drive for the Sun Devils fizzled out, resulting in a Carson Smith field goal. The Jayhawks would then turn it over on downs and fumble the ball away (Owen Long had the recovery) before an Arizona State three-and-out turned into a punt return touchdown for Kansas.

That explosive play kicked off seven consecutive punts between the two teams, with Kansas failing to earn a first down even once in that span. The last punt of that stretch, from Kansas, was a shank in the purest form of the word: it traveled 17 yards before coming down out of bounds at Kansas' own 25-yard line with 25 seconds left in the half.

Gifted a chance to score points before the break, Cutter Boley and Reed Harris wasted no time taking advantage:

Arizona State never gave up the lead after that. Jaren Hamilton kicked off the third quarter with a 100-yard touchdown return, the first kickoff return touchdown of the Kenny Dillingham era and first for the program since their 70-7 win over Arizona back in 2020.

Both offenses went cold again from there, with Kansas coming up short on fourth down again, missing a field goal, and then fumbling the ball right into the hands of Kansas native Hyrum Vaeono, who came agonizingly close to returning the fumble for a touchdown. Ultimately, Boley ran it in for a touchdown on a tush-push.

The Jayhawks offense started to pick things up from there. Quarterback Isaiah Marshall made a few big plays on a drive that lasted 10 plays before Owen Long secured his first interception as a Sun Devil.

But with Arizona State trying to run out the clock against a very good defense, Kansas got the ball back and, with just under seven minutes left in the game, scored their first offensive touchdown of the day. They followed it up with a field goal to cut the Sun Devil lead to one touchdown, but a gutsy option keeper from Boley allowed the clock to run down to triple zeroes.

In the end, Arizona State's international trip yielded a win and lots of things to clean up. Boley finished the day completing a shade under half of his passes with only 95 passing yards and the one scoring toss. Kyson Brown led the way with 81 rushing yards on 24 carries, while Reed Harris (48 yards on four catches) and Omarion Miller (18 yards on three catches) were the only wide receivers with multiple receptions.

Defensively, the Sun Devils were dominant until very late in the game and, after some early miscues, the special teams group stepped up and made several impact plays. Perhaps most importantly, they won the turnover battle 3-0, though penalties were once again a common theme in this one.

Arizona State now heads into their lone bye week of the year with a 1-0 mark in the Big 12. They'll play host to Baylor on October 3, which gives them time to improve on the areas they've struggled in these past two weeks.