(Photo: Spencer Barnes/ WCSN)
Arizona State football is entering Week 4 of the season off the back of a triumphant rebound 34-15 victory over Texas State. The team weathered storms of injuries and overcame a disappointing road loss to Mississippi State to get back in the win column, but the Sun Devils aren’t out of the woods just yet.
ASU’s schedule is only getting harder with Big 12 Conference play kicking off. Matchups against No.16 Utah, No.17 Texas Tech, and No.12 Iowa State are on the horizon, but for now, ASU (2-1) has its sights set firmly on Waco, Texas, and the still dangerous Baylor Bears (2-1), who the Sun Devils take on at 4:30 p.m. MST, Saturday.
“They were one of the best teams in our league last year,” ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham said during his Monday press conference. “They return a lot of people, returned their starting quarterback, return their coordinators.”
Baylor won its last six Big 12 Conference games to end the 2024 season – outscoring its opponents 248-149 in that span – and has barely missed a beat since the calendars changed. The Bears suffered a loss in their season opener against Auburn, but bounced back with a hard-fought 48-45 win, on the road, against then No.17 SMU in the second overtime period, and blew Samford out of the water with a 42-7 Week 3 victory.
The architect behind the winning is a coach not too dissimilar to Dillingham: Head coach Dave Aranda. Like Dillingham, Aranda learned how to win as a coordinator. He spent four seasons heading up LSU’s defensive efforts, winning the 2019 SEC Championship and 2020 National Championship with the Tigers before being named Baylor’s head coach.
Aranda had a disappointing first year leading the Bears, going just 2-7 in the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, but flipped the switch the next year. In 2021, Aranda led his squad to a 12-2 record and a Big 12 Championship, something Dillingham would do just three years later.
Success has been a rollercoaster ride for Aranda, but – like Dillingham with his offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo and defensive coordinator Brian Ward – he has surrounded himself with great minds who can help him win any given Saturday.
“I coached with their defensive coordinator, coach (Matt) Powledge at Oregon,” Dillingham said. “He’s one of the best defensive minds. Coach Aranda is known to be one of the best defensive minds, and coach (offensive coordinator Jake Spavital), they’ve got an unbelievable staff there, and they do a really, really good job of putting pressure on you on both sides of the ball.”
Spavital is in his second season as Baylor’s offensive coordinator and his second season working with the leader of the offense: Redshirt senior quarterback Sawyer Robertson. Robertson transferred to Baylor for the 2023 season after spending his true freshman and redshirt freshman seasons at Mississippi State, and has blossomed into a Heisman candidate under Spavital’s tutelage.
After throwing for 3,071 yards (5th in the Big 12) and 28 touchdowns (2nd in the Big 12) to eight interceptions one year ago, Robertson is picking up where he left off. Through three games this season, the 6-foot-4 QB has 1,070 passing yards and 10 touchdowns, but his most recent game was also his worst, throwing two interceptions against Samford.
Robertson will look to clean things up against the Sun Devils, and he has all the ability needed to do so. He’s not a true dual-threat QB, but he can run when he needs to and has the arm talent to give him a chance against ASU’s defense.
“I actually recruited him out of high school,” Dillingham said. “… He’s a heck of a player. He’s accurate, tall, big, so he can see the line, make throws over the middle of the field really well, which (is) obviously a strength of a taller quarterback, super intelligent, better athlete than people give him credit for.”
Baylor’s offense might be highlighted by Robertson, but it doesn’t end there. The Bears’ running back room features one of the most underrated players in the nation: Redshirt sophomore Bryson Washington. Washington ran for 1,028 yards last year – a school record – and has posted 100+ rushing yards in back-to-back games. The speedy back hit 21.2 MPH against Samford, and represents a true test for a Sun Devils run defense that has allowed just 91.3 rushing yards per game to start the year.
In the wide receiver room, redshirt senior Josh Cameron and sixth-year Ashtyn Hawkins – Robertson’s two favorite targets from a year ago – are back wearing green and gold and continuing to cause problems for opposing defenses. Hawkins leads the way in receptions with 17 and yards with 257, but Cameron, a member of the Biletnikoff Award Watch List, has recorded three touchdowns. Baylor’s receiving touchdown leader, however, is someone else entirely.
Senior wide receiver and Alabama transfer Kobe Prentice has just 10 receptions through three games, but four of his catches have wound up in the endzone. ASU’s defense will need to be on the lookout whenever he is on the field.
The Sun Devils limited explosive plays and recorded five sacks and 10 tackles for loss against Texas State, but might have to go to war against Baylor without key members of their defense. Redshirt senior defensive back Xavion Alford will be out for the second week in a row, while redshirt sophomore defensive back Montana Warren, redshirt senior linebacker Zyrus Fiaseu, and redshirt junior defensive lineman Zac Swanwan are all listed as questionable.
With the loss of Alford – a Preseason All-Conference safety – and potentially more in the secondary, Dillingham will need the rest of the defense to continue to step up. Players like reigning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week senior linebacker Jordan Crook have led the charge in that regard. The defensive line will also likely have to set the tone against a dangerous QB and rushing attack.
“Those guys (senior defensive lineman Jacob Rich Kongaika and junior defensive lineman C.J. Fite) can play with anybody in the country, and they’ve shown it,” Ward said. “Those are two very experienced guys. … we’re really happy with that room and the way they’re playing, and those guys are the two horses in that room. We play on defense as those two guys play.”
On the other side of the ball, Baylor’s defense is headlined by redshirt junior linebacker Keaton Thomas, who was the team’s sole representative on the defensive side of the Big 12 Preseason All-Conference Team. Thomas started his collegiate career at Northeast Mississippi Community College, earning a First-Team NJCAA All-America selection before transferring to Baylor. As a Bear, he’s registered 145 total tackles, 2.5 sacks, and an interception in 16 games.
The rest of the Baylor defense might not have names that pop off the roster, and it might’ve allowed a whopping 90 points in three games, but the way that Aranda and Powledge scheme their personnel can cause problems for any opposing offense. The Bears utilize simulated pressures, meaning the defense lines up as if it’s going to rush five or six players, but only rushes four as two players drop back into coverage. The strategy is intended to confuse the quarterback, and a confused quarterback is not a recipe for offensive success.
“It challenges your protection, it challenges your eyes, it challenges your route adjustments,” Arroyo said. “And on third down, with different packages, now it challenges with different people on the field. They do a great job, we got a real big test.”
Luckily for Arroyo and Dillingham, the Sun Devils have a talented offense, which woke up against Texas State and should be able to take the fight to Baylor. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Sam Leavitt put a two-interception, 82-yard passing performance against Mississippi State in the rear view mirror with 188 passing yards, three touchdowns (two passing and one rushing), and a highlight reel that makes him look like a superhero against the Bobcats.
If ASU can get the Week 3 version of Leavitt, it could be a long day for the Baylor defense.
Leavitt was able to successfully get the ball to star redshirt junior wide receiver Jordyn Tyson six times in Week 3, and Tyson was able to make magic nearly every single time. Mind-boggling moments have become the new normal for Tyson, and ASU will need him to keep it coming against Baylor.
Dillingham has talked for weeks about wanting to get receivers beyond Tyson the ball, but it hasn’t materialized en masse. Redshirt senior tight end Chamon Metayer was also able to record six receptions against Texas State, but no other Sun Devil recorded more than one.
Redshirt junior wide receiver Jalen Moss was expected to return to action this week and make the offense more dynamic, but he was listed on ASU’s initial injury report as out. Week 4 could be another heavy workload for Tyson, but if the Baylor defense can neutralize him, even partially, the Sun Devils will need another pass catcher to step up.
One part of the offense that Dillingham doesn’t need to worry about is the running back room. Week 1 starter, junior Kyson Brown, is probable to return from his ankle injury. In his one full game this season, Brown ran for 73 yards and added another 72 as a pass catcher.
In his wake, though, redshirt junior Raleek Brown and – to an extent – junior Kanye Udoh have burst onto the scene. Raleek Brown recorded 245 total yards and two touchdowns in weeks two and three, while Udoh registered 119. If all three arrive in Waco healthy, the Sun Devil backs could be one of the most dangerous groups in the conference.
“To have guys in the backfield that can spread the wealth a little bit helps a lot,” Arroyo said. “With the way we want to run the football, it helps us in what we’re trying to do for our identity.”
ASU’s offense truly has the potential to be at the very top of the conference, but so does Baylor’s. Both teams have the ability to run up the score, and while the Sun Devils’ defense might look better on paper, the Bears’ defensive schemes can throw a wrench into anyone’s plans.
The only thing that’s certain is that ASU will need to bring its A game to Texas to avoid another Mississippi State situation, and Dillingham knows it. He never downplays his opponents and is always prepared for battle.
“We’re 100% focused on Baylor, the current team,” Dillingham said. “It’s a good football team. It’s a team that has battled back from a 14-point deficit versus a ranked opponent and beat them on the road. So this is a good football team. … We got to stay focused on one game (at a) time.”
