Instant reaction: No. 10 Texas A&M pulls away from Sun Devils in fourth quarter for blowout win

Things were looking so good for the Sun Devils.

The fourth quarter began at College Station and Arizona State trailed No. 10 Texas A&M by just four points. Given that the Aggies had, to that point, started three different drives in Arizona State territory due to special teams miscues, it was easy to argue that the Sun Devils had been the better team through three.

Then the game flipped in a hurry.

Standout Aggies receiver Mario Craver came open on a busted coverage assignment and scored a 33-yard touchdown less than a minute into the quarter. That play marked Texas A&M's first play of 20+ yards all game long.

The next time the Aggies had the ball, they were forced to punt, and a botched snap gave Arizona State the ball at the Texas A&M 34. Trailing 31-20 with just about nine minutes left in the game, it looked like the Sun Devils were about to get right back in it.

The exact opposite happened. The A&M pass rush finally got to Cutter Boley, who had largely been able to avoid these edge rushers with a mixture of quick throws and pocket mobility. Boley was hit as he threw and the pass was tipped up in the air for Marco Jones to intercept and then take it to the house.

The very next play, Kyson Brown tried to cut outside on a first down run play. As he was fighting for extra yards, a defender punched the ball right out of his hands for another takeaway. That turned into a field goal.

Not long after that field goal, Boley had another interception. This one came on a screen that Boley was a bit late on, and the defensive back jarred the ball loose from the target to snag it and then take that to the house.

The final score reflects a massive blowout loss for Arizona State, but this was a close game for the bulk of the day.

Arizona State's defense played lights out for most of the game, picking off Marcel Reed and largely keeping him contained in the pocket. The run defense was also stout, with the Aggies running backs being held to 75 rushing yards on 28 carries.

Offensively, Arizona State made some big plays early on, too. The offensive line opened up some holes for the run game, with Brown averaging 5.1 yards per carry and racking up several explosive runs.

Boley was sharp through three quarters, too. He continued to build on his connection with Reed Harris, who finished the day with 189 yards and two touchdowns on nine receptions.

Prior to the fourth quarter meltdown, the two biggest issues for Arizona State were familiar ones: penalties and special teams blunders.

A muffed punt from Cory Butler spotted Texas A&M their first touchdown of the day after the defense had forced consecutive three-and-out's to start. Later, a fake punt near midfield was blown up because of a whiffed block upfront, even though that turnover on downs only yielded a field goal for Texas A&M.

On the penalty front, things were massively one-sided. The Sun Devils finished with nine penalties for 62 yards, while Texas A&M drew just one penalty for five yards, which did not come until late in the fourth quarter when the game had effectively been decided.

All in all, Arizona State showed a lot of good in a challenging environment against a very talented team. There are things to clean up, but also things to build on, as they fly to London for the Union Jack Classic next Saturday against Big 12 foe Kansas.