In a game that was critical for the Sun Devils' hopes of a second consecutive Big 12 championship game appearance, Arizona State was humbled with a 24-16 defeat at the hands of the Houston Cougars.
While not an altogether BAD loss, the Sun Devils are now at a decision point that could result in a 9 win season or a complete collapse if adjustments aren't executed.
The Good
Depth Receiving
That was Cam Harpole's first career TD.
— Brad Denny (@BDenny29) October 26, 2025
Malik McClain with his first career 100-yard game.
The story of the week was Jordyn Tyson's injury, and who would step up to fill the massive void in his absence. The quarterbacking tandem of Sam Leavitt and Jeff Sims (necessary due to Sam's injury) was effective in spreading the ball around to 9 different receivers, with the majority of the offense flowing through Malik McClain for 159 yards on 7 catches. Tight end involvement was on display as Chamon Metayer pulled in 4 catches for 55 yards, Cameron Harpole snagged two catches for 24 yards, and Khamari Anderson caught his only target for 8 yards. Both touchdowns came on the hands of tight ends as Harpole and Metayer found the end zone. The uncertainty of Tyson's injury duration can be assuaged slightly with this spread out production.
Defensive Fortitude
On paper, giving up 384 total yards and falling behind 24-0 doesn't offer a good return on the defensive performance, but consider this. Houston's offense was understatedly efficient in their opening two drives of each half, compiling 280 yards on 36 plays in 17:55 of game time. The Cougars only gained 104 yards on the remaining 32 offensive plays. Credit to the Sun Devils defense for keeping the game to the deficit that it was as the offense failed to execute for the first three quarters of the game.
Never Give Up
It's hard to think of a time when Mountain America Stadium was more silent than the 29-0 shutout loss to Fresno State in the 2023 season, and the first three quarters of the game ranks up there with that performance. Fan faith may have been broken, but the offense didn't quit until the final whistle, amassing 167 yards and scoring all 16 points in the final frame. The game had the potential to come right down to the wire if not for the consistent field position battle, but more on that later on.
The Bad
Penalties
On Friday's preview episode of Echo From The Buttes, one of our experts opined (in a very generic coach-speak way) that the only way Arizona State would lose this game is if they beat themselves.
Ill-timed penalties to the tune of 12 for 76 yards proved the prophecy true. Admittedly there were some questionable calls and non-calls that could qualify the penalties as ugly, but there were easily preventable penalties as well. Offside on Ghost Rowser that overturned a fumble recovery by Justin Wodtly and led to Houston's first touchdown of the game. An illegal shift that degated a Chamon Metayer touchdown in the 3rd quarter. Multiple penalties that negated excellent returns by Jaren Hamilton that would have produced excellent field position.
The final nail in the coffin came late in the 4th quarter. The Sun Devil defense got a stop deep in their own territory and stopped the clock with 17 seconds to go. Ethan Sanchez missed the field goal attempt from 25 yards and looked to give the Devils the ball with a chance for a couple desperation heaves, but a roughing the kicker penalty on Javan Robinson sealed their fate.
The more Arizona State trailed in the game, the more they let off on the discipline, backing themselves deeper in to a corner that they could never recover from.
Special Teams Execution
I'm going fully on record as saying that the two missed field goals by Jesus Gomez, while undeniably critical, stemmed from a lack of focus by the entire special teams group. Coupled with the earlier mentioned penalties on returns, no one player shoulders the blame, the whole group gets a minus for the game. Again, a piece of the game that could fall in to the ugly category.
The Ugly
Field Position
We can't really sugarcoat this one. Houston had a decided advantage in the field position game, starting drives from an average of their own 36 yard line, compared to Arizona State starting drives on their own 18. This goes hand in hand with the penalties. When a team starts 6 of their 11 drives from inside their own 20, the battle is already well against them. The three scoring drives for the Sun Devils started on their own 20 or better, but that proved to be too little, too late.
Big 12 Standings
After being on the cusp of asserting themselves in the Big 12 championship race, the Sun Devils now find themselves in a logjam at 3-2 in conference play with Utah, Kansas State, and TCU. The silver lining here is that Arizona State has already beaten TCU, but with Utah holding the tiebreaker and needing a lot of help up top, the chances of a repeat championship appearance look increasingly slim.
Arizona State hits the road to Ames to take on Iowa State, losers of three straight. Kickoff will be at 10am on November 1st on TNT from Jack Trice Stadium.