Arizona State’s Remarkable Streak Against Ranked Teams Faces Texas A&M Test

Kenny Dillingham and the Sun Devils have won six consecutive regular-season games against ranked opponents as they prepare to face No. 10 Texas A&M at Kyle Field.

Arizona State Sun Devils head coach Kenny Dillingham, with his team coming off a 70-7 dismantling of Morgan State in its season opener, will take a major step up in class this week as it visits No. 10 Texas A&M in College Station. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Arizona State has developed a habit of beating ranked opponents under Kenny Dillingham.

The Sun Devils will get an opportunity to extend one of the nation's most impressive streaks Saturday when they travel to College Station to face No. 10 Texas A&M at Kyle Field.

Arizona State has won six consecutive regular-season games against AP Top 25 opponents, the longest active streak in the nation entering the weekend. The Sun Devils are 6-1 against ranked teams since the start of the 2024 season, the best winning percentage in the country during that span.

Dillingham is 6-6 overall against AP Top 25 teams during his tenure at Arizona State, making him the only active Big 12 coach with at least a .500 career record against ranked opponents.

Now comes perhaps the biggest opportunity yet.

Sun Devils Step Up in Competition

Arizona State opened its season with a 70-7 victory over Morgan State, scoring the second-most points in program history while piling up 681 yards of total offense.

The competition will be dramatically different Saturday.

Texas A&M enters the matchup ranked No. 10 following an 11-win season and the program's first College Football Playoff appearance. The Aggies opened Mike Elko's third season with a 50-0 victory over Missouri State.

Texas A&M allowed only 67 total yards in the shutout, the fewest surrendered by the Aggies since 1978. A&M also produced 505 yards of offense, including 236 rushing.

Senior quarterback Marcel Reed completed 21 of 30 passes for 233 yards and two touchdowns in the opener after accounting for approximately 3,500 yards of total offense and 31 touchdowns during the 2025 regular season.

It represents a significant jump in competition for an Arizona State team featuring plenty of new faces.

The Sun Devils entered 2026 with 30 collegiate transfers and 18 incoming freshmen, meaning nearly 45% of the roster consists of newcomers.

Dillingham Has Delivered Against Ranked Opponents

Arizona State's recent record against ranked competition has become one of the defining features of Dillingham's tenure. The Sun Devils have won six straight regular-season games against ranked teams and are 6-1 against AP Top 25 opponents since the beginning of 2024.

ASU has also won six consecutive games against ranked Big 12 opponents, a streak tied for the sixth-longest in conference history.

A victory Saturday would push Dillingham's career record against AP Top 25 opponents above .500 at 7-6 and give Arizona State a seventh consecutive regular-season victory over a ranked opponent.

It would also accomplish something the program has never done.

Arizona State Chasing SEC History

Arizona State has never defeated an SEC opponent in a true road game.

The Sun Devils have only played two such games, losing at Georgia in 2009 and at Mississippi State last season. ASU's three road games against Missouri came before the Tigers joined the SEC, while a 1951 trip to Arkansas came when the Razorbacks were members of the Southwest Conference.

Arizona State is 5-13 all-time against programs that currently compete in the SEC, but only one of those victories came while the opponent was actually an SEC member. That was ASU's 30-23 victory over Mississippi State at Mountain America Stadium in 2024.

The Sun Devils have faced SEC opponents in each of the past two seasons and will make it three straight Saturday. A victory would also give Arizona State its first road win over a Top 10 opponent since a 38-23 victory over UCLA at the Rose Bowl in 2015.

A Potentially Record-Setting Crowd

The setting will make the challenge even greater.

Arizona State is expected to play before the largest crowd it has faced in a true road game. The current program record is 92,746 fans for the Sun Devils' 2009 game at Georgia.

Texas A&M drew 107,782 fans for its season-opening victory over Missouri State. The largest crowd in ASU history was 103,168 for its 22-15 victory over Michigan in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1987. Arizona State's only other six-figure crowd came 10 years later, when 100,635 watched the Sun Devils face Ohio State in the 1997 Rose Bowl.

That atmosphere will provide the backdrop as Arizona State attempts to extend a streak that has helped transform the expectations surrounding Dillingham's program.