Baylor Beats ASU 55-19 in Big 12 Home Opener

It could have been rust from the bye week. It could have been a prolonged hangover from international travel. Whatever it was Arizona State was caught on their heels when the clock started ticking against Baylor on Saturday that resulted in a 55-19 loss.

The defense, known for its sure tackling under Brian Ward, gave the Bears chances for extra yards time and again. The unit that is typically rock solid was porous on Saturday. When on the verge of shutting down drives, the Arizona State couldn’t get off the field. The Bears converted nine of 15 third downs. They started the game converting eight of 11.

Arizona State prides itself on not giving up explosive plays. On Saturday, Baylor had scores of 75, 63 and 35 yards.

Offensively, a dropped third down pass and a fumble stifled offensive drives for the Devils early.

Arizona State gave up 14 points in the first quarter for the first time since the Peach Bowl. They fell behind 21-6 early and cut the lead to 21-13 with 1:50 left in the first half thanks to a Cutter Boley touchdown to Omarion Miller.

The Bears tacked on a field goal before half, only to slice through the ASU defense on their opening drive of the second half.

Down 31-13, the Sun Devils faced a 3rd and 1 on their own 34-yard line. It was a play action call and Boley instantly was pressured. He tried to throw it away but it landed in the waiting arms of Baylor’s Ryan Davis (an O’Connor alum). In a situation of get a yard and continue the drive, the play call was doing too much and the throw compounded upon that, leaving Baylor with a short field and easy score.

In total, Boley threw for 304 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

“That was his first real interception on the season,” Dillingham said. “We got to get some of the man throws a little bit more in bounds from that perspective, giving our guys a chance. I didn’t think Cutter was like the glaring issue of the football team by any way, shape, or form.”

Dillingham teams have typically played well coming out of their bye week. Those teams are 3-2 in that situation. The two losses were in 2023 when Arizona State was *this* close to beating No. 5 Washington on the road. The second came in 2025 against Utah in rainy conditions and Sam Leavitt was out due to injury. Two losses you can certainly stomach given the circumstances at the time.

This is also the worst loss ASU has had under Dillingham at home post-2023. This was a pedestrian night for a team that has prdided itself on defending its home turf.

It’s also rare to see a team in the Kenny Dillingham era just get outmatched on both sides of the ball, especially after 2023. The only other example that comes to mind is that 2025 game against Utah where, again, there was plenty working against them.

This team typically is able to go punch-for-punch and keep games close, even when there may be a talent disparity. The talent wasn’t an issue tonight.

But the execution was. Whatever fueled those issues will need to be figured out, and quick.

“We had an atrocious game,” Dillingham said. “We can either point the finger at who is wrong, or we can all take extreme ownership and try to fix it and I just challenge them to everybody find what they could have done better in the football game, and what they can do better moving forward to get better.”

Saturday could be a wake-up call. If it’s not, this could be the beginning of a nine-week nightmare stretch without a break.

Get Cardae the Ball

When of the few bright spots was freshman running back Cardae Mack, who had 72 total yards on seven touches. he’s already been trusted to run Wildcat quarterback at times. Simply, good things happen when he touches the ball. As we saw carries spread around mainly between Kyson Brown, Marquis Gillis and Mack, the freshman deserves a more prominent role.