Texas A&M went into halftime against Arizona State with a 17-10 lead, but the bigger storyline for the Aggies was the condition of quarterback Marcel Reed.
Reed appeared to tweak his left hamstring late in the first half on the final offensive snap before the break. He scrambled toward the goal line and ran out of bounds as Texas A&M settled for a field goal.
After the play, Reed was seen favoring the leg and touching the hamstring while walking with a slight limp on the sideline. He talked with assistant coaches, though Texas A&M trainers did not seem to work on him extensively.
The ESPN broadcast also noted the limp.
Even so, Reed headed to the locker room for halftime without an obvious limp. Hamstring issues can be unpredictable, and with that in mind, Reed would be better served staying in the pocket in the second half rather than taking off on designed runs or scrambles.
Reed did come back out to start the second half for Texas A&M, but his night took a turn immediately when he threw an interception on the first play of the third quarter.
At halftime, Aggies coach Mike Elko was asked about Reed’s first-half work and sounded upbeat.
"I think he's doing really good," Elko said. "I think we're in a game.
I think it's going to be a competitive game. We can go out and make some plays in the second half and win it."
Before the break, Reed completed 10 of 16 passes for 76 yards and a touchdown, while also rushing three times for 24 yards.
The Aggies’ offense wasn’t spotless, though Texas A&M did benefit from Arizona State mistakes on special teams. A muffed punt and a failed fake punt both gave the Aggies short fields, and those errors helped set up two of Texas A&M’s scoring drives.
Texas A&M still has work to do in the second half. Without those Sun Devils miscues, Arizona State could have been ahead.
For now, the Aggies have the edge, and the task is clear: finish the job and move to 2-0 before next weekend’s SEC opener against Kentucky at home.
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For the Aggies, the frustration is less about their own record than the company they keep. LSU, Alabama, Ole Miss and Mississippi State all remain part of the weekly shuffle, which means there is no easy path to being taken seriously in this league, even before the conference race fully settles in. A clean start helps, but in the SEC it only buys a little breathing room before the next round of comparison begins. [Read more 🡒]