Asiata is tied with a number of other Vikings players for the franchise record of most rushing touchdowns in a single game at three.

Born in Garden Grove, California to Samoan parents, Asiata graduated from Hunter High School in West Valley City, Utah, where he was a standout running back for the Wolverines.

After failing to qualify out of high school, Asiata spent two seasons at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, where he played as a running back.

In 2006, his sophomore year, Asiata set a new school record for single-season rushing yards with 1,494 despite missing one game with a hamstring injury.

He led the Utes in carries with 146, rushing with a career-high 707 yards (4.8 ypc and 54.4 ypg) and touchdowns with 12, which tied for second-best in the Mountain West Conference.

At the end of the season, Utah was the only remaining undefeated team in the country and was ranked #2 on the Associated Press (AP) Final Poll.

Prior to the injury, he was averaging a league-leading 101.3 yards per game and his four rushing touchdowns also led the league at the time.

In the season opener game, he carried the ball 36 times for a career-high 156 yards against in-state rival Utah State.

[13] Source:[14] On July 27, 2011, Asiata signed with the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent after the lockout ended and spent training camp and preseason with the team.

After no NFL teams claimed his services, he spent a couple of weeks with UFL's Omaha Nighthawks on a tryout.

[16] After spending 2011 out of football, James Saxon (the running backs assistant) convinced head coach Leslie Frazier to give Asiata another shot in the offseason of 2012.

In the season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars on September 9, he caught his first career pass and returned a pair of kickoffs.

[17] On December 30, Asiata and the Vikings won their final game of the regular season against the 11–4 Green Bay Packers to put them into the Wild Card Round of the playoffs instead of the Chicago Bears.

[19] After Adrian Peterson was placed on the commissioner's exempt list for the remainder of the 2014 season following Week 1, Asiata filled in for him, playing 11 games and starting 9 of those, a career-high.

[37][38] He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints he is married to his high school sweetheart and has three sons and two daughters.

Matt's son Ephraim was shot on January 13, 2022, and spent nearly a month in the hospital receiving multiple surgeries.