No. 10 Texas A&M gets its first real measuring stick of the season when Arizona State comes to College Station after both teams opened with easy wins.
The Aggies handled Missouri State in Week 1 with a shutout, and that result gave head coach Mike Elko a clean first look at a roster that has plenty of new faces in the 2026 season. The challenge is sharper now, with a Big 12 opponent arriving for what figures to be the biggest test yet.
Texas A&M’s injury situation is simple for now. The Aggies will not release an injury report unless they are playing a conference team, and with no issues coming out of the opener, everyone who saw the field is expected to be available.
One name to keep an eye on is Daymion Sanford. He dressed for Week 1 but did not play while continuing to work back from a spring injury.
Arizona State showed up in Week 1 with a statement of its own, rolling past Morgan State, 70-7. Even so, the Sun Devils entered the year with real questions on offense after losing Sam Leavitt to the transfer portal and Jordyn Tyson to the NFL.
To help fill those holes, Dillingham brought in Kentucky transfer Cutter Boley to run the offense, while Marquis Gillis is taking over the backfield after Raleek Brown transferred to the Texas Longhorns. The results were encouraging against Morgan State, but the level of competition never pushed Arizona State into a true stress test.
Boley’s interception issues with the Wildcats stand out as a possible opening for Texas A&M, and that is where the Aggies will likely try to make their mark.
In Other News...
Sam Leavitt Faces An Early Big 12 Test Arizona State Fans Should Track
Week 1 gave Big 12 quarterbacks a pretty favorable start, with most of them working against Group of Six or FCS defenses rather than the kind of fronts that expose real issues. For Arizona State fans, that makes the early conversation around Sam Leavitt especially worth watching, because the league-wide sample still says more about how these passers handled the moment than how theyll hold up when the schedule tightens.
Week 2 should tell a much clearer story, as several of the conferences top quarterbacks are headed into matchups against Power Four defenses. Leavitt is part of that group Arizona State supporters need to keep an eye on, because the first real test in league play can quickly separate a clean opening act from something more revealing about what the Sun Devils have at quarterback. [Read more 🡒]