The early days of the college football season are special. Stadiums are packed, fanbases have hope for the future and the on-field product just hits different after a long offseason. Now, we enter Week 2 with plenty of observations from the opening slate.
This week, the Texas A&M Aggies host a Big 12 opponent at Kyle Field after a dominant season opener. The Arizona State Sun Devils are in College Station coming off a dominant performance of their own, but the level of competition is significantly stiffer here on the road against the No. 10 team in the country.
Here’s a preview, prediction and pick for Arizona State vs. Texas A&M in Week 2 of the 2026 college football season.
Arizona State vs. Texas A&M prediction, preview
Last season, A&M went 11-2 and made it to the College Football Playoff. They lost lots of talent to the NFL Draft in April, but they hit the portal hard and return quarterback Marcel Reed, who went 21-for-30 with 233 yards and two touchdown passes in a 50-0 blowout against Missouri State last week. The first half wasn’t stellar for the Aggies, who scored just 19 points heading into the intermission. However, they blew the game open in the later stages and racked up 505 yards of offense on the day, including 239 rushing yards behind a long list of runners headlined by returner Rueben Owens II and his 77 yards. They were also led in receiving by Alabama transfer Isaiah Horton, with the big-bodied wideout living up to big expectations with four grabs for 76 yards and a score.
However sluggish the offense appeared for part of that contest, Texas A&M’s defense stole the show from the jump. Yes, Missouri State is far from a good FBS program after making the jump from the FCS just a year ago. Still, holding any opponent to just 67 total yards of offense and an average of 1.7 yards per play is considered an absurdly good performance by any standard. The Aggies recovered three fumbles to win the turnover battle as well, so one could say this defense was great in all phases. It’s nitpicky, but if there’s any area in which they need to show improvement, it’s via the pass rush – they tallied just one sack on the day.
However impressive the 50-0 win was for Texas A&M, Arizona State put an even more dominant effort on the field to start the new season. The Sun Devils thrashed Morgan State 70-7, though it should be noted that the opponent hailed from the FCS and finished just 4-8 last season.
Still, it was a ridiculous first outing for AZST after the program put up 681 total yards of offense with 32 first downs and zero punts. Quarterback Cutter Boley, who transferred here from Kentucky, went 21-for-27 with 387 yards and six touchdowns in his debut for the Sun Devils – likely leaving fans feeling better after losing Sam Leavitt to the portal. Three wideouts posted at least 100 receiving yards with a touchdown or two apiece, with Reed Harris, Grayson Rigdon and Omarion Miller all having big days. Kyson Brown and Jason Brown Jr. saw just 11 combined carried but each eclipsed 60 yards via the ground while finding the end zone. The Arizona State defense was an issue last season, but did show encouraging signs by bottling up their opponent for 188 yards.
Arizona State vs. Texas A&M pick, best bet
On DraftKings Sportsbook, Texas A&M enters as a 14.5-point favorite with -700 odds on the Moneyline. Arizona State is a +500 underdog to win outright with the game total set at 50.5 combined points between these teams.
Both of these teams are facing a much higher level of competition than they saw last week, so it’s best to take the Week 1 results with a grain of salt. If there’s anything to glean from those games, though, it’s that this Aggies defense may be one of the best in the nation once again in 2026. Even against a low-tier FBS program, holding an opponent under 100 yards of offense is quite the feat these days. Yes, they’ll be tested more against the Sun Devils, but I still like A&M to keep scoring down again this week. With that in mind, I’m taking under 17.5 points for the Arizona State team total in Week 2.
Best Bet: Arizona State under 17.5 points (-130)
For easy access to tail CFB picks, click here to join the CFB Committee Betting Group on DraftKings Sportsbook.
