'This Is Us': Baylor Delivers Breakthrough Performance in 55-19 Rout of Arizona State

TEMPE, Ariz. – When head coach Dave Aranda walked into the post-game press conference in the wee hours of Sunday morning, he let out a sigh of relief and cracked a big smile, saying, “This is it. This is us right here.”

For the seventh-year head coach, Baylor’s (4-1, 2-0) dominant 55-19 victory over Arizona State (2-2, 1-1) was a cathartic performance that he’d been waiting years to see come to fruition. It was arguably the Bears’ best overall game since 2021, maybe outside of a 59-35 win over rival Texas Tech in Lubbock in 2024, which became the catalyst for the season-ending six-game win streak. That momentum, however, didn’t carry into 2025. After Baylor finished 5-7, much of the fanbase seemed to have checked out on Aranda and counted this year’s team out before the season began.

“I think what helps kind of bring this out is to go into enemy territory where they're all against you all the way,” Aranda said. “There's no pretense of any frenemies. It's like straight enemy, and then you can be the villain, and that's what you saw. There's some pretty strong energy with all that. I think we have to keep that because, I don't know, people may try to be nice to us now. It's like, just be mean to us, please.”

He continued, “We got to keep feeding them the negative stuff because I think that's energy for them. There are so many dudes in there that have just been doubted their whole life. … I probably didn't use the negative stuff enough. I would just kind of absorb it and take it and carry it. But to turn it into energy is something that we're doing, and the guys are feeding into it.”

Uncharacteristically, Aranda took a little jab in his post-game press conference, calling out the people who doubted the team, saying, “It's funny. A lot of people picked us to lose, people that cover Baylor, and so that's why I came in here. I don't ever see them. They pick us to lose all the time, and I never see them. It's just wild. For people that know us, to never even see them around is crazy stuff.”

He added, “What you saw was development. Guys are getting better. The offensive line is getting better, running backs are getting better, DJ is getting better. When you look at something, then you make a judgment on it and a criticism on it, and then you go on all the talk things and talk about it, it's as if it stays still. But that's not reality. You're always working to get better. You're either getting better, or you're getting worse. Nothing stays still.”

What felt different about this game compared to years past, and even the first month of this season, was how the Bears executed from start to finish. Aranda has preached this year about the scoreboard being a distraction, and for the first time this season, Baylor kept its foot on the gas for the entire game. The offense had a season-high 564 total yards, and the defense posted six tackles for loss, three sacks and three turnovers.

“Prior to this game, we've kind of been not so great with that,” Aranda noted. “I think we've looked at the score, and I think we've learned from those times because this group right here was very much into the game. I would start to walk over, and they would know what I was going to say, and they would say it to me. It's almost like you have to go through that to get it.”

The biggest catalyst in the win was junior quarterback DJ Lagway's bounce-back performance. He looked like his true five-star self after struggling against Colorado in his first game back from a high-ankle sprain. Lagway threw for 306 yards and a career-high four touchdowns on 25-of-40 passing and even added an 11-yard touchdown on the ground. Most importantly, he made great decisions all night and didn’t turn the ball over once, nor did he give the Sun Devils any chances.

“I'd really say my biggest emphasis this week was just love and ownership,” Lagway said. “We preach that all the time. It's just playing for your brothers beside you and doing your one-eleventh. Without Gavin making plays and the O-line making heck of blocks, I wouldn't be talking to you today. The game wouldn't look the way it looked. So it's a team effort. I'm just glad with the way everybody came out there and executed.”

Lagway leaned heavily on his most trusted target, fifth-year senior Gavin Freeman, who caught a team-high seven passes for 115 yards and delivered several key third-down catches. The Oklahoma State transfer also hurdled another defender after his incredible play went viral against Colorado.

“He's all over the field,” Lagway said when asked about Freeman. “He's going to be one of the hardest-playing players on the field. He's going to play his heart out, he's going to get open for you, and he's going to make the catches. I'm thankful for a player like him. Man, if we all play like Gavin, we're gonna be a very successful team.”

It wasn’t just the passing game that was clicking for the Bears, though. The run game had its strongest performance of the season, as Baylor totaled 244 yards for an average of 6.78 yards per attempt. Four-star freshman Ryelan Morris (84 YDS, 9 CAR) got the party started with a 63-yard touchdown for his first collegiate score. Sophomore Caden Knighten (84 YDS, 6 CAR) had a 75-yard rushing touchdown of his own, plus Michael Turner (51 YDS, 10 CAR) and Dawson Pendergrass (29 YDS, 8 CAR) both had productive games.

“I feel like offensively we played complementary football,” Lagway said. “We ran the ball well, we threw the ball well, we blocked well. We played well on situational downs. I think it was just all-around good football. I'm just blessed to be around amazing guys, amazing coaches. It's just a blessing to be here.”

Defensively, Baylor has held its first five opponents to fewer than 20 points, the longest such streak to open a season since 1966, when the Bears held their first six opponents to fewer than 20 points. It’s also the longest streak of consecutive games holding a foe to 20 points or less since 1986.

Under first-year defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman, this is what the Bears have come to expect, with senior edge rusher Ryan Davis saying, “Absolutely. I think every week, we’re going 1-0, attacking our game plan. We got a really good defense, but I still think the bar is getting raised every single week, and this isn't the final product yet. We're still getting better.”

In his return to his home state of Arizona, Davis helped lead the charge on a defense that limited the Sun Devils to 4-of-17 on third and fourth downs and forced three turnovers and 10 quarterback hurries. Davis posted a tackle for loss, half a sack and came down with his first career interception, which was a special moment in front of tons of friends and family.

“It was surreal,” Davis said. “I grew up with a Pat Tillman jersey hanging in my living room and grew up a huge ASU fan. So to be playing in that stadium, it was nuts. Then to be able to get a pick, man, God's blessed me.”

Baylor heads into its bye week before hosting rival TCU on Oct. 17. The challenge now is maintaining the edge that fueled its most complete performance of the season. Aranda has also noted that this is a player-led team, and veterans such as Freeman and senior safety Tyler Turner won’t let Baylor lose its edge before the schedule picks back up.

“Every week, we got something to prove,” Freeman said. “Everybody's always got something to say, and we just gotta play for ourselves. That's all we're doing. Play for our teammates, and if we do that, we're gonna be really successful. That's the only thing it comes down to at the end of the day, playing for each other.”

Turner, who forced a fumble in the win, added, “Definitely things to iron out, but we're just excited that we get to go into the bye week off a great win with high morale. We played a pretty full, complete game as a team.”