LONDON - Arizona State didn’t need pretty. It needed timely. And in the inaugural Union Jack Classic, the Sun Devils leaned on defense, special teams and a few enormous moments to outlast Kansas, 24-17, and open Big 12 play with a road win across the Atlantic.
The final numbers told one story - Kansas piled up 414 yards to Arizona State’s 228 - but the game itself belonged to the Sun Devils whenever the pressure spiked. ASU held the Jayhawks to 119 first-half yards, forced three turnovers, logged six tackles for loss and didn’t surrender a touchdown until the fourth quarter. Kansas’ only points through the first three quarters came on a second-quarter punt return.
That kind of night usually belongs to a defense, and Arizona State’s was all over the field. Owen Long put together one of the strongest performances of his career, finishing with 12 tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and an interception. Martell Hughes also made his presence felt with a career-high 11 tackles, including 3.5 for loss.
The turning point came in the final minute of the first half, when Arizona State trailed 7-3 and Kansas punted out of its own end zone, handing the Sun Devils the ball at the KU 25-yard line. Cutter Boley hit Reed Harris for a touchdown - their fifth in the first three games of the season - and ASU went into halftime with a 10-7 lead.
Then came the jolt that changed everything. On the second-half kickoff, Jaren Hamilton raced 100 yards for a touchdown, Arizona State’s first kickoff return score since 2020. Suddenly, the Sun Devils were up 17-7 and had all the momentum.
Kansas kept swinging, but Arizona State delivered the decisive blow in the fourth quarter. Long forced another fumble, Hyrum Vaeono recovered it and the Lawrence native sprinted 77 yards to the KU two-yard line. Two plays later, ASU finished the drive and pushed the lead to 24-17.
The Jayhawks still had life, trimming the margin back to one score with 3:51 left. But Boley’s eight-yard run on third down sealed the deal, moving the chains and getting Arizona State to the two-minute warning. From there, the Sun Devils bled out the clock with Kansas out of timeouts.
Arizona State improved to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the Big 12, and in the process won a game with fewer than 250 yards of offense for the first time since beating Michigan State, 10-7, in 2019. It also marked the Sun Devils’ 11th win in a game decided by seven points or fewer over the last two-plus seasons, tied for the most in the nation over that span. Kansas fell to 1-2 and 0-1 in conference play.
In Other News...
ASU Big Man Delivered The Play Kansas Fans Wont Forget
Arizona States trip to Wembley Stadium produced a defensive moment that will stick with Kansas fans for a while. Early in the 24-17 win over the Jayhawks, defensive lineman Hyrum Vaeono pounced on a forced fumble and rumbled 75 yards to the Kansas 2-yard line, setting up the kind of short-field swing that can change an overseas game in a hurry. The Sun Devils defense kept building on it, forcing three turnovers and making life miserable on Kansas in crucial fourth-down spots.
Vaeonos impact carried a little extra edge because he is a Kansas native and a Lawrence Free State High School graduate, making it his first game against KU. Arizona State also got a huge boost from special teams when Jared Hamilton took a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, giving the Sun Devils the kind of all-phase performance that can make a statement even far from home. [Read more 🡒]
ASUs London Win Got An Emotional Twist Fans Will Love
Arizona States trip across the Atlantic turned into more than just a historic win on the field. In the first-ever Union Jack Classic at Wembley Stadium, the Sun Devils edged Kansas 24-17 behind a defense that kept producing answers, from Hyrum Vaeonos 77-yard fumble return to the turnover pressure created by linebacker Owen Long.
For a team still settling into conference play, the result carried real weight beyond the novelty of playing in London. It was Arizona States first Big 12 win, pushing the Sun Devils to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the league, and it came in a game where the defensive effort was the difference long before the final whistle. [Read more 🡒]
Kenny Dillingham Didn't Care How Ugly Arizona State's Win Looked
Arizona States trip to Wembley Stadium ended with a win, and Kenny Dillingham made it clear he was far more concerned with the result than the style points. In the Union Jack Classic, the Sun Devils beat Kansas 24-17 in the first college football game in England between two FBS teams, grinding through a performance that featured turnovers and penalties before finding enough answers to finish the job.
For a team that just spent a long week on the road, the bigger takeaway was survival. Dillingham pointed to the value of winning in a tough setting and the fact that Arizona State was able to avoid giving the game away when things got messy, even if the final product hardly looked polished. The Sun Devils now head home with the kind of cross-Atlantic victory that wont make many highlight reels, but still counts the same in the standings. [Read more 🡒]