Baylor Football Falls 27-24 to Arizona State in Home Conference Opener

Arizona State took down the Baylor Bears, 27-24, Saturday night at McLane Stadium, with the Sun Devils sealing the deal with a field goal in the last two seconds of the game.

                  ASU forced a total of four turnovers – including two fumbles, one interception and one fourt-down stop – that proved to be too much for the Bears to overcome. BU suffered its second loss of the season, while Arizona State holds a 3-1 record and starts undefeated in league play.

                  “On a game that you're up 3-0 in the turnover battle, it should not come down to a game-winning kick,” Arizona State Head Coach Kenny Dillingham said. “But you know what? They don't look at that at the end. They look at wins. They look at losses. Our offense sputtered, defense picked it up. Defense sputtered, offense picked it up, and special teams wasn't good, and we won it at the very end.”

                  The Bears faced difficulties on both sides of the ball. Redshirt senior wide receiver Josh Cameron had two fumbles, and redshirt senior quarterback Sawyer Robertson threw his third interception of the season to ASU’s junior defensive back Keith Abney II. Baylor Head Coach Dave Aranda expressed his disappointment in his team’s execution throughout the game.

“I'm disappointed in just the execution, whether it's the turnovers on offense or the penalties, the penalties on defense, you know, the busted play on the big third down,” Aranda said. “It's just at inopportune times, kind of shooting yourself in the foot, and you just can't do that versus a really good team. To have them at home, to have the crowd in it, and to have all that and then not come away with it is very, very, very, very frustrating.”

                  Robertson was 25-of-39 for 250 passing yards and three touchdowns with one interception, while the Sun Devils’ Sam Leavitt was 22-of-32 for 221 yards and one touchdown. Dillingham stated that Arizona State wanted to avoid getting into a shootout with the green and gold.

“We were trying to keep this a low-possession game, keep possession of the ball, which we did,” Dillingham said. “I think we won 36-23 from the time of possession, which is a positive. We ran the ball well. We wanted to stop the run for them.”

Even with falling to ASU, BU looks to bounce back and refocus with the rest of the season ahead of them. 

“We’re fighters, and if I know anything, it usually turns out well for guys that play hard and fight until the very end,” Robertson said. “We’re hoping to turn that corner, as we go on throughout the season. But it happens, you’re going to face adversity all the time, and how you handle that is what is going to make or break your season.”

Baylor now turns its attention to a road game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys (1-2, 0-1) in Stillwater, Okla., in the Boone Pickens Stadium with a 2:30 p.m. kickoff time.