(Photo: Connor Gleason/WCSN)
LUBBOCK, Texas – The motto of the television game show series “Survivor” is three words: outwit, outplay, outlast.
Fifty-one seasons and 700 episodes on CBS, the show has become a household staple in its 26 years on air. Players compete in physical and mental challenges to finish as the “Sole Survivor,” or the show’s champion.
For homecoming week at Texas Tech, the university adopted the show’s motto and style for its theme, culminating in the matchup between No. 10 Texas Tech and Arizona State.
In the last two seasons, the matchup featured the eventual “Sole Survivor” of the Big 12.
In 2024, ASU lost to Texas Tech, 26-22, but finished 7-1 in the regular season and won the Big 12 Championship. The following year, Texas Tech lost 30-22 in Tempe, then won its final seven games, capping it off with a Big 12 Championship.
This season, the Sun Devils needed to survive Texas Tech and change the script of the last two seasons to have a chance of finishing “Sole Survivor.”
Except ASU couldn’t.
The “Survivor” theme for homecoming carried over to the game, as Texas Tech (6-0, 3-0) outwitted, outplayed and outlasted the Sun Devils (3-3, 1-2 Big 12) 53-25, keeping Texas Tech’s goal of finishing “Sole Survivor” alive.
“The most disappointing part is we failed to respond when we needed to,” sixth-year quarterback Mikey Keene said. “Ultimately, football is a bunch of Xs and Os. There’s a will to and a pride that you have to take and everything that you do.”
After a 55-19 loss to Baylor, some may have labeled ASU one of the conference’s castaways. That distinction now feels less like a temporary label and more like a permanent branding.
“We’re not coaching things at the level we used to coach them,” Dillingham said. “We’re not getting through to the level we used to get through. We’ve got to be able to connect and get through at the level, because it’s not getting through.”
Dillingham urged his team to bring energy against Hawaii, but the week finished with an uninspiring 30-12 victory. In the week building to the game against Texas Tech, Dillingham again sought more energy and passion from his team.
“I want people to touch the passion and energy of our football team,” Dillingham said in his Monday press conference. “We can’t touch it right now. We’ve got to get that. We’ve got to find it.
“If we find it, we’ll be a dang good football team. People won’t want to play us. But if we don’t find it, people will have to go back to old film to motivate their team to play us.”
Through the week’s practices, the chatter signaled a power surge had arrived. At Kajikawa Practice Fields, the team felt renewed with belief, not one at a fork in the road between being a top program and a mediocre one.
“Things that win football games became things that we were checking boxes on instead of things that we were passionately doing,” Dillingham said following Tuesday’s practice. “The last few days, you could see a little more intent and belief in terms of what wins.”
Except the surge in passion and energy ended in a blackout against Texas Tech.
“The way that it doesn’t translate, it’s got to come from us,” Keene said.
This isn’t the first time this season Dillingham praised his players’ effort in practice, only for it to fall apart on Saturday. Before the game against Baylor, Dillingham applauded his team’s practice effort, coming off a unique bye week after the trip to London.
Then against Baylor, ASU looked shell-shocked as Baylor marched toward a 55-19 win.
“On Saturdays, we can’t act like the week is done when you get to a game day,” Keene said. “Do all this stuff in summer, work our a– off the entire summer.
“We have to go out and take that opportunity, 12 separate times, once a week. We can’t be complacent in that. Can’t think that the work is going to automatically [translate] because this was our best week of practice.”
ASU’s first offensive drive ended in Texas Tech’s fourth interception returned for a touchdown this season. Its second drive ended in a turnover on downs at its own 33-yard line.
“They ran away with it, but plays in a game that can change it, we were on the wrong side of all of them early in the game,” Dillingham said.
On Texas Tech’s opening drive, they had a 4th-and-1 on their own 34-yard line, a big chance for the Sun Devils to take over in Texas Tech territory. Third-year quarterback Will Hammond was stopped behind the line of scrimmage, but stayed on his feet and churned forward for a first down.
“We couldn’t tackle them in the first half,” Dillingham said. “That was not something I was expecting.”
The tackling struggles didn’t stop there. Texas Tech amassed over 400 yards of offense and 43 points in the first half. Third-year running back J’Koby Williams led the way with 165 rushing yards and two touchdowns on only 11 carries.
“We’re going to figure out which players are the guys that are going to continue to make plays,” Dillingham said. “We have to shake things up to try to improve.”
ASU has allowed 50 or more points in its last two conference games. The last time the Sun Devils did that was the final two games of the 1998 season – a 51-19 loss to Oregon and a 50-42 loss to Arizona.
As Dillingham looks for players to step up, he benched third-year quarterback Cutter Boley for Keene at the start of the second half.
Keene completed 25-of-34 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns, but Texas Tech was playing conservative zone coverage to see out the rest of the game.
The Sun Devils outscored Texas Tech 15-10 in the second half, but by then the game was far too out of reach.
“We did it in the second half, so we showed we can do it,” Keene said. “But it’s got to be something that’s consistent for us because the play that we’re getting right now, we can’t make up for it with a lack of effort.
“We’re not playing well enough to be complacent in where we are with our talent.”
Almost every team member frequently speaks about how it has more than enough talent to compete at the highest level.
If ASU has the talent it believes in, it needs to find a way to execute.
“It goes down to technique vs. mentality,” Keene said. “It’s a mentality thing because we got a lot of guys that have played a lot of football, made some big plays.”
During Dillingham’s most successful season in 2024, the team had the mentality. Through four conference games in 2024, the Sun Devils were 2-2. They went on a six-game winning streak, ending with a Big 12 Championship victory and a College Football Playoff berth.
Now, Dillingham finds his team in an even tougher spot at 1-2 in Big 12 play, looking for its mentality to break through and end the season successfully.
“Nobody is going to save us,” Dillingham said. “We’ve got to get better. We’ve got to get better in a hurry. It’s a broken record from me up here, but there’s nothing else to say. We’ve got to get better.”
