I know on Surly a win is a win is a win. But the above narrative is what makes games like the peach bowl infuriating. First, the very first drive of the game Texas is inches away from a blocked punt that turns into a running into the kicker penalty (to later find out that shouldn’t have been a penalty at all) ASU manages to get three points out of the extended drive. Texas then scores 14 points over something like the next 45 seconds of possession. The ASU offense over the next 3.75 quarters scores 3 points. On 4th and 2 with six minutes and forty-two seconds left in the game, a runningback of all things throws up (no pun intended) a complete prayer of a halfback pass that 9/10 times gets picked, somehow turns into a 42 yard TD pass on a top 3 passing defense. Then with an 8 point lead and five and some change minutes left, Sark goes full on Simple Jack and calls a deep pass on 2nd and 4 when running clock and not turning the ball over is absolutely fundamental in that situation. I’ll give credit to ASU on their final drive, however at that point the defense had been on the field for over 35 mins because the Texas offense was shit on a stick. As cool and feel good as this game was for people that love underdogs that was in no way Texas’ best showing. It was not two juggernauts pounding on each other for 12 rounds. It was Texas playing around and ASU having absolutely everything go their way just to come back and tie the game.
Now I’ll give massive props and respect to ASU’s defensive front, they completely stifled our running game. But no, Arizona State is not an equal, to the upper echelon of college football.