COLLEGE STATION, Texas. — The phrase when you come at the king, you best not miss is a relatively common term that is used to describe how hard it is to topple something powerful or highly regarded. 

Whether it's the tale of David vs. Goliath or a simple football game, underdogs are afforded very few mistakes if they are to succeed in any medium.

For Arizona State football on Saturday against No. 10 Texas A&M, that phrase couldn’t have been more true.

Whether it was a dropped punt in the first quarter, two costly interceptions in the fourth or a plethora of penalties, there was no shortage of misses for the Sun Devils.

Despite many costly miscues, ASU remained competitive for the game’s first 45 minutes, trailing by just four points entering the final frame.

Then the fourth quarter happened. 

With just under nine minutes remaining in the game and down 11 points, junior quarterback Cutter Boley dropped back to throw. 

Almost instantaneously, Boley was met with a wave of maroon pressure as the Aggies flooded the quarterback's pocket, hitting his arm in the process and forcing the ball straight up into the high Texas sky.

The red, white and blue-striped Kyle Field erupted into pandemonium as the ball fell perfectly into sophomore defensive end Marco Jones’s lap for a 55-yard pick six to extinguish any comeback. 

A defeated Boley owned up to the interception and the Sun Devils’ self-inflicted mistakes. 

“I had a few really costly mistakes. It cost us a lot in the second half and turned the tide of that game,” Boley said. “Overall, I felt like we were really in control most of the time. We just kept hurting ourselves. 

“I felt like most of the time they didn't stop us. We stopped ourselves.”

Two Boley interceptions, four turnovers and 62 penalty yards played a decisive role in ASU's (1-1) 48-20 loss to Texas A&M (2-0) on Saturday, Sept. 12, inside a fanatic Kyle Field with over 107,000 in attendance. While the Sun Devils played a competitive three quarters, head coach Kenny Dillingham said he is not one for moral victories and made that clear in his postgame presser.

“Those four turnovers were absolutely critical in the football game. Other than those four plays, we played pretty good,” Dillingham said. “But those four plays count; they count for more than any other plays, and that's what we've got to clean up.”

The Aggies capitalized on ASU’s missteps, scoring 17 points off those four turnovers.

Three of the Sun Devils’ turnovers came in the fourth quarter, with two following Boley’s pick six, burying the team in a swing of momentum Dillingham said can’t happen again. 

“We just can't self-destruct,” Dillingham said. “I think that's the thing that I took away from the game.” 

Despite that turbulent fourth quarter, ASU outgained Texas A&M in total yards, 369-255, while picking up more first downs and winning the time-of-possession battle.

Yet Dillingham said he couldn't care less about the stats, instead using them as a benchmark to show where the Sun Devils are. 

“Stats are for losers, and our stats showed that we played well tonight, and that's why they're for losers,” Dillingham said. “But it does show that we can be competitive. It does show that we can hang. It does show that we have a good football team, and we've got to clean up the important things.”

Outside of the turnovers, penalties continued to be ASU’s Achilles' heel, either breathing life into a struggling Aggies offense or stifling a once promising offensive drive.

The Sun Devils committed nine costly penalties for those 62 yards; meanwhile, Texas A&M committed only one penalty for five yards. 

Dillingham said penalties remain an area for improvement, specifically the Aggies drawing their defensive line offside.

However, Dillingham didn’t blame the team’s discipline for the sloppy showing on Saturday, saying they handled their operations well for the ruckus crowd on hand, though he still needs to review the game tape to confirm. 

“Offensively in that environment, we didn't have many catastrophes,” Dillingham said.

While it didn’t make the result any better, Dillingham came away impressed by how the Sun Devils held up through three quarters in a hostile atmosphere of 107,523 opposing fans known as the 12th Man. 

“The first three quarters of the football game, the score wasn't in our favor, but I thought we played a really, really good football game,” Dillingham said. “Then that fourth quarter, it all started on that one play, and then it was three straight turnovers, and I think everybody just started pressing.” 

Still, Dillingham felt the team clearly deserves to play against future top competition, as shown by their effort in the first three quarters. 

“Everyone's out there watching, and we looked like we belong. That wasn't an issue,” Dillingham said. “We just made the mistakes, starting from the staff, and those mistakes were critical.”

With a quick turnaround and a flight to London ahead, Dillingham looks for the team to move on from this game and leave the mistakes behind.

“I told the guys we've got to flush this. We're a good football team. I’m not concerned about that,” Dillingham said. “If there's one takeaway from this game, it's that we're a good football team.”

ASU now heads to Dallas before flying across the pond to face Kansas in the Union Jack Classic played in London's iconic Wembley Stadium at 9 a.m. MST on Saturday, Sept. 19.  

Dillingham said he’s cautiously optimistic that next time the Sun Devils get their chance against a top-tier opponent, they can capitalize without the mistakes.

“I don't leave this game not thinking that we can beat anybody,” Dillingham said. “But I also leave it saying, ‘Man, if we have four turnovers, we can lose to anybody too.’’’