The ASU vs.Texas football game in the first round of the College Football Playoffs was one of if not the best games of the 2024-2025 college football season. Leading up to the game there was a lot of hype surrounding the CInderella team Arizona State Sun Devils just because of the simple fact that they were picked dead last in their conference in the preseason poll and ended up being Big 12 Champions and making their way into the College Football Playoffs. ASU was the heavy underdog before kickoff just because of the superior Texas team they were playing.
Starting off the game ASU seemed to be moving the ball fine in their first drive but couldn’t finish with a touchdown like they were hoping for and ended up having to settle with a field goal putting them up 3-0. Texas quickly showed what kind of offense they were having two big plays lead them down the field and score a touchdown. ASU was quickly down 7-3 and got the ball back but did nothing and ended up punting the ball back to Texas. Texas’ punt returner Silas Bolden made a few moves after receiving the punt and ended up taking the ball all the way to the endzone for another Texas touchdown putting them up 14-3 on ASU. ASU continued to be shut down on offense and couldn’t get their star running back Cam Skattebo a lane to run which hurt them a lot being he was the biggest factor of their offensive success throughout the season coming to this point.
The second quarter of play was a really slow one with only one score happening and that being a Texas field goal putting them up 17-3 at halftime. ASU was playing great defense outside of the mishap during the first drive and was showing they could compete with this strong and fast Texas team. Offensively ASU couldn’t get anything going for them and had shown weaknesses starting in their offensive line. ASU was mismatched by a lot of body weight compared to Texas’ defensive line and it was proving when Texas was forcing ASU quarterback Sam Leavitt out of the pocket on almost every single passing play.
Coming out in the second half ASU’s defense was still performing well but their offense again had to punt the ball back to Texas. Thanks to a good punt Texas was left on their own 2 yard line and messed up the snap on the first play from scrimmage sending the ball into the endzone and ASU tackling Texas’ quarterback Quinn Ewers for a safety reviving this struggling ASU team giving them life being down 17-5. ASU got the ball after the safety and kicked another field goal putting the score of this game 17-8 going into the fourth quarter. Texas scored another touchdown with ten minutes left in the fourth putting ASU down 24-8. ASU needed to act quickly if they wanted a chance to win this game and they went down and scored two touchdowns in a minute and a half, tying the game up 24-24. Texas had a chance to go down and kick a field goal with about a minute left in regulation and missed it so ASU went back out to hopefully win the game but after a close call on third down ruling no targeting on a very game-altering play ASU had to punt the ball back just for Texas to get the ball in field goal range with 2 seconds left and ended up missing another game-winning field goal. The game was now going into overtime and both teams scored on their first possession making it a 31-31 game. Texas quickly scored again in the second overtime period but ASU got the ball back and threw an interception and ended up losing the game 38-31 falling just short to the almighty Texas team.
