Baylor Hosts Defending Champs in League Lid-Lifter

Sun Sep 14 13:40:01 CDT 2025

BAYLOR ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS – Sept. 14, 2025

Baylor Hosts Defending Champs in League Lid-Lifter
Bears Host Arizona State at 6:30 p.m. at McLane Stadium on Saturday

For more information contact: Brent Ingram; 210-845-8651, brent_ingram at baylor.edu<mailto:brent_ingram at baylor.edu>  or Max Calderone; 254-265-1639, max_calderone at baylor.edu<mailto:max_calderone at baylor.edu> Josie Hutton; 254-709-7720, josie_hutton at baylor.edu<mailto:josie_hutton at baylor.edu>; or Matt Roberts; 254-227-2280, WM_Roberts at baylor.edu<mailto:WM_Roberts at baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas -- Baylor will host the defending Big 12 Conference Champions, Arizona State, in a 6:30 p.m. league lid-lifter for both teams on Saturday at McLane Stadium. The game will be televised live on FOX and broadcast live on the Baylor Sports Media Network.

For FOX, Tim Brando (play-by-play), Devin Gardner (analyst) and Josh Sims (sideline) will have the call. For the Baylor Sports Media Network, the Voice of the Bears, John Morris (play-by-play), Nick Florence (analyst) and Ricky Thompson (sideline) will call the action.

Baylor (2-1, 0-0 Big 12) won two of its three non-conference, regular-season games, with the Bears splitting two power-4 matchups with a loss vs. Auburn and a win at No. 16 SMU. The Bears are one of only two teams in the nation to play 11 power-4 conference games in 2025 and were rated in the preseason as owning the nation’s toughest non-league schedule. On Saturday, the Bears put together a 42-7 win over Samford, which featured the eighth 100+ yard rushing game from preseason All-America tailback Bryson Washington.

SCOUTING THE SUN DEVILS

• Arizona State is coming off a clash with group of five power Texas State on Saturday, and have wins over NAU and the Cats, with a loss at Mississippi State.

• ASU averages 30.7 points, 408 yards, 232.3 rushing yards and 175.7 passing yards per game. Defensively, the Devils allow 19.3 points per game, 326.3 yards - including 235 passing and 91.3 rushing per game.

• The Sun Devils had a historic season in 2024 on the strength of standout running back Cam Skattabo, who led ASU to the Big 12 Championship and a berth in the College Football Playoff.

• QB Sam Leavitt entered the 2025 season with high hopes after a strong season in the backfield with Skattabo. Leavitt put on a scrambling show in the win over TXST, and has thrown for 527 yards with five TDs, three interceptions and a 58.1 completion percentage rate, adding 157 yards and three scores on the ground. RB Raleek Brown and Kanye Udoh carry the load of the offense, with Brown rushing 35 times for 292 yards and two scores, and Udoh toting it 32 times for 138 yards and a TD. WR Jordyn Tyson is off to a strong start with 24 catches for 314 yards and four TDs, averaging 104.7 yards per game. Defensively, Jordan Crook has 24 tackles, 4.5 for a loss and two sacks. Keyshaun Elliot has 20 tackles, three TFLs and two sacks. Anthonie Cooper has an interception.

• ASU is led by third-year head coach Kenny Dillingham, who is off to a 15-13 record through his first stint as a head coach. Dillingham came to ASU after a season as the OC at Oregon, two seasons as the OC at Florida State, which followed the 2018 season as the OC at Memphis and 2019 as the OC at Auburn. He opened his coaching career at Chaparral High School from 2007-13, before moving on to a two-year stint at his alma matter, Arizona State in 2014-15. He opened a three-year career at Memphis as a GA before taking over as the QB/TE coach in 2017 and as the OC/QB coach in 2018. He grew in the profession under Mike Norvell, Gus Malzahn and Dan Lanning.

• Charlie Rangle is the assistant head coach and special teams coordinator, a fixture in the state of Arizona that included five years at Arizona, five seasons at Cal and time as the head coach at Idaho State. Brian Ward is the DC, and is in his third season after serving as the DC at Washington State, Nevada, Syracuse, Bowling Green and Western Illinois. He served as the interim HC at Bowling Green in 2015, and as the head coach at NAIA McPherson [Kan.] was named 2009 National Coach of the Year while leading his team to the playoffs for the first time in program history. Marcus Arroyo is the OC and is in his second season after serving the 2020-22 seasons as the head coach at UNLV, where he went 7-23. He spent the 2017-19 seasons at Oregon, including serving as the stand-alone OC in 2018-19. He coached RBs at Oklahoma State in 2015-16, QBs for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2014 and was the OC at Southern Miss in 2013. He also had coaching stints at Cal, Wyoming, San Jose State and Prairie View A&M.

• Graham Rossini has been the AD at ASU, his alma matter, since the spring of 2024. He has been at ASU since 2021, when he was Senior Associate AD and later Executive Senior Associate AD/CBO. He previously spent 13 years with the Arizona Diamondbacks as VP of Special Projects & Fan Experience, and spent five years as ASU’s Director of Baseball Operations. Lisa Young serves as Deputy AD, Mike Chismar, Andrea Lore, Mike Meitin, Scott Nelson, Doug Tammaro, Brett Wallerstedt, Marcus Williams, Christina Wombacher, and JD Loudabarger are all Senior Associate ADs.

SERIES HISTORY, LAST MEETING

• This will be the first meeting in the series with Arizona State and Baylor since a lone matchup in 1990 in Tempe.

• ASU won the meeting in 1990, 34-13. The Sun Devils jumped out to a 24-0 lead with 5:27 left in the second quarter, taking complete command of the game. ASU had 28 first downs, rushed 56 times for 271 yards, and totaled 131 yards passing, good for a 402 yard outing, all while holding the Bears to 286 yards of offense.

BAYLOR WRAPS UP NON-LEAGUE SCHEDULE

• Baylor cruised to a 42-7 win over Samford to wrap up its non-conference, regular-season schedule, jumping out to a 35-7 lead at halftime.

• The Bears entered the game leading the NCAA in passing offense and finished with 245 yards in the air, adding a season-best 223 yards rushing for 468 yards of total offense. Samford was held to 10 first downs and 195 yards of total offense, including 95 yards rushing.

• Sawyer Robertson threw for 211 yards and three TDs on 23-of-37, finding Josh Cameron, Kobe Prentice and Louis Brown IV for scores. Bryson Washington toted it 21 times for 135 yards and two TDs. The Bears forced four turnovers, including interceptions from Kaleb Burns, Micah Gifford and LeVar Thornton.

CONFERENCE LID-LIFTER

• Baylor will be seeking its sixth win the last nine of its Big 12 Conference openers, with the Bears winning five straight from 2018-22 before falling vs. Texas and at Colorado in 2024.

• The Bears have wins over Kansas (2018), Iowa State (2019), Kansas (2020), Kansas (2021) and Iowa State (2022) in league openers during that stretch of five straight wins.

• Baylor has opened conference play on the road in three of the last four years, hosting UofT in 2023.

- BaylorBears.com -

--
Brent Ingram | Associate AD for Communications
Baseball Sport Program Administrator
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 210-845-8651

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