Arizona State edge Kansas 24-17 in Wembley college football clash
The Sun Devils beat the Jayhawks 24-17 in Britain's first US college football game in nearly 40 years, with marching bands stealing the show at Wembley.
The pre-match build-up outshone the football itself. Wembley Way rang with the sound of the Arizona State Sun Devils' marching band well before kick-off, met by an answer from the Kansas Jayhawks' band and cheers from the crowd outside the stadium. The Jayhawks' band worked through the Beatles' "Twist and Shout" and Cameo's "Word Up"; the Sun Devils' band replied with Salt-N-Pepa's "Push It".
Two police officers watching the scene were approached by a fan, Ian Taplin, from Milton Keynes.
Fox Sports analyst Chris Fallica had told the Guardian before kick-off that the fixture sat roughly at the level of a lower-tier Premier League or upper-tier Championship match, comparing it to Nottingham Forest against Coventry. Little of note happened until the game turned in the space of a single minute late on.
Arizona State, founded in 1896 and playing home games at the 53,599-capacity Mountain America Stadium, have now taken a college football fixture across the Atlantic and made the trip pay off on the scoreboard, even if not in the quality of the football served up.
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