What national media is saying after Baylor's loss to Arizona State
That was a tough one, Baylor fans
In a game where Baylor’s defense had far and away its best performance, the offense let Baylor down, en route to Arizona State kicking a game-winning 43-yard field goal. The Sun Devils, which had totaled over 240 yards on the ground the past two games, got less than half of that with 119 yards, and Arizona State's starting running back Raleek Brown managed only 80 yards on 21 carries.
Meanwhile, Bryson Washington had his most efficient game of the year against a power conference opponent. totaling 111 yards on just 17 carries, including a season-long, hard-charging 41-yard run on 4th & 1 to set up Baylor on the 1-yard line. That run drew rave reviews from the Fox Sports broadcasters Devin Gardner and Tim Brando, and would go on to set up the first of two fourth-quarter Michael Trigg touchdowns. However, Brando and Gardner noted the performance of senior wideout Josh Cameron, who had two lost fumbles at the start of each half that squandered away would-be scoring opportunities for the Bears. Despite the loss, Baylor theoretically still has all of their postseason goals in play.
The Bears will face off against Oklahoma State and a head coach in Mike Gundy who seems less and less likely to make it through the season. With that, let’s look at what the national media had to say after Baylor’s loss on Saturday.
Todd McShay
The Ringer personality, on his weekly YouTube college recap livestream, continued to sing the praises of Sawyer Robertson, who went 25 for 39 for 250 yards and three touchdowns, albeit with a crucial second-half interception that led to Arizona State points
“I’m just a Sawyer Robertson guy,’ McShay said. ‘So, I’m not pulling for or against, but I feel like he’s done a ton of good things.”
Despite a much-improved defensive effort for the Bears, limiting the Arizona State passing attack to 222 yards passing and holding potential first-round pick Jordyn Tyson to 43 receiving yards, McShay still didn’t have the most positive take on Dave Aranda’s leadership of the program.
“Dave Aranda can’t quite [seem to] turn the corner with that team. Baylor’s a good team, they’re just not there yet. Sawyer Robertson’s a really good quarterback, I’m really excited to see how he continues to develop, but, it wasn’t enough tonight.”
PFF
In their weekly PFF grades reveal on Sunday, PFF contributors Dalton Wasserman and Mad Chadwick shared their takes on what they believe to be an imbalance in the Baylor offensive equation
“That Baylor offensive line hasn’t really been the best for them this year,’ Chadwick started.’And, it just feels like right now, that Baylor offense is so, so reliant on Sawyer Robertson to drop back and throw the ball 50 times a game.’’
Meanwhile, Wasserman stated that he feels the formula for beating this Baylor has been exposed
“The problem is, they can’t control the pace on [the game] on either side of the trenches.' said Wasserman This Baylor team, they’re just going to get in shootouts and try and win with Robertson and their receivers, and it’s not going to work every week. If you have a team that can run the football functionally on Baylor, you can find a way to win that football game, because they simply don’t have enough in the front seven.”
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Josh began covering Baylor athletics in July 2025. Before this, he previously wrote for Syracuse men's basketball and football at SI from 2022-24. As a former Division I defensive lineman at Prairie View, Josh is passionate about storytelling from a former athlete's perspective. When he's not covering Baylor, he enjoys traveling, listening to podcasts and music, and loves cooking a good meal.