Key Baylor Facts Before Arizona State’s Big 12 Opener Clash

The Sun Devils are set to face Baylor for only the second time on Saturday.

Arizona State safety Xavion Alford (2) warms up during a game against NAU at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, on Aug. 30, 2025. | Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

TEMPE -- Arizona State is set to embark on another Big 12 opener on the road for a second consecutive season - traveling to take on Baylor later today.

Arizona State athletics released facts surrounding the opponent and the beginning of conference play, per an official press release.

Notes for today's game:

• This will be just the second time in history that ASU has squared off against Baylor, with ASU winning its 1990 season debut at Mountain America Stadium, 34-14 - Baylor’s largest loss of the season that year, despite ASU going on to win just three more games that season.

Sep 6, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Baylor Bears quarterback Sawyer Robertson (13) looks on during the game between the SMU Mustangs and the Baylor Bears at Gerald J. Ford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

• Baylor QB Sawyer Robertson is the nation’s leading returner in QBR (83.7) after ranking fifth overall last season. He is currently second in the FBS in passing yards (1,070) and third in passing touchdowns (10).

• RB Bryson Washington is 13th in the NCAA in rushing yards (304), 14th in rushing TDs (4) and 15th in rush yards per game (101.3)

• ASU will continue looking to turn a new leaf in conference openers as it sets course for its second year in the Big 12 after the program finished its time in the Pac-12 with just an 18-26-2 record in conference openers with an 18-27-1 record in Pac-12 road openers. Unfortunately, that trend continued last season with a loss at Texas Tech in the team’s Big 12 opener/road opener.

• The Sun Devils will start league play on the road for the second consecutive season for the first time since 2013 and 2014. Road conference openers were something the program rarely did in the Pac-12, doing so in only four previous seasons dating back to 2006 when it was more consistent from year to year - 2020 (due to unique circumstances of COVID-19), 2018, 2014, 2013.

• ASU has not won its first conference road game of the season “officially” since 2019 at Cal (2021 victory over UCLA later vacated). It has not won its first conference road game when it was also the first conference game of the season since 2014 at Colorado.

• ASU has truly not been good when its first conference game of the season has been played on the road, going 5-13-1 in such games since it joined the Pac-12 in 1978.

Historical precedence may not be on the side of the Sun Devils if the patterns of the past are to be believed.

Sam Leavitt, Jordyn Tyson, Kenny Dillingham, and the rest of the Arizona State team are in a good spot to start their Big 12 title defense positively.

Read more on major takeaways from players discussing the victory over Texas State in the post-game press conference here, and on how Arizona State fans should be feeling about the team heading into Big 12 play here.

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