Most notably, after a disastrous first half from junior quarterback Cutter Boley, head coach Kenny Dillingham opted to sit Boley for the first time this season in favor of senior quarterback Mikey Keene. 

While the uncertainty in the ASU quarterback room will likely take most of the headlines in the next week, the Sun Devils arguably have more to sort out on the defensive side of the ball. 

The defense has been hot and cold in recent weeks, but it’s been a long time since we’ve seen an ASU defense struggle as it did in the first half on Saturday. 

To start, Texas Tech’s 43 points are the most the Sun Devils have allowed in a first half since Nebraska dropped 63 on ASU in 1995. 

On top of that, the Sun Devils let up 404 yards from scrimmage in the first 30 minutes, marking one of the worst halves ASU has played in recent memory. 

The Red Raiders (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) rode the first-half explosion to a 53-25 rout over the Sun Devils (3-3, 1-2 Big 12) at Galaxy Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 17, almost a year to the day after ASU ended Texas Tech’s bid for an undefeated season in 2025. 

It was the Red Raiders’ first game with 50-plus points against a Big 12 opponent since their 52-15 win over West Virginia on Nov. 30, 2024. 

While Texas Tech rewrote history in the right way on Saturday, the record books weren’t as kind to the Sun Devils, as ASU allowed 50 points in back-to-back conference games for the first time in program history. 

The Red Raiders’ offensive outburst and overall domination took Dillingham and the Sun Devils by surprise. 

“Absolutely shocking,” Dillingham said. “We had a good week of practice; our guys practiced really hard.”

The crushing loss came after a week of practice that focused on added intensity after ASU’s sluggish 30-12 win over Hawaii on Oct. 10. 

However, the Sun Devils’ showing on Saturday was anything but intense. 

One of the glaring issues for ASU was a flurry of missed tackles, something that Dillingham pointed out as a problem. 

“We got to be able to tackle,” Dillingham said. “We had way too many missed tackles today.” 

Many of those missed tackles led to big plays, as the Red Raiders ran 11 plays for 15-plus yards, 10 of which came in the first half. 

Texas Tech junior running back J’Koby Williams benefitted from ASU’s bad tackling more than anyone, ripping off touchdown runs of 62 and 38 yards in the first and second quarters, respectively. 

Williams’ big day on the ground led a Red Raiders track meet, with Williams accounting for 165 of Texas Tech’s 260 rushing yards in the win. 

After Saturday, the Sun Devils have now allowed 504 rushing yards in their last two Big 12 contests after letting Baylor run for 244 yards on the ground on Oct. 3. 

Dillingham kept it real about how both the offensive and defensive lines need to improve. 

“There’s nobody magically going to come save us,” Dillingham said. “We got to look at it as a staff and say, ‘Okay, where are we getting beat?’” 

Dillingham and ASU got beat in almost every aspect of the game, including another lackluster day from a defense that held high expectations coming into the season. 

Looking back, the product of Sun Devils defensive coordinator Brian Ward in 2026 is a far cry from the 2025 unit. 

Last season, ASU only allowed 25-plus points once in the regular season, serving as the anchor to an 8-5 season riddled with injuries. 

This year, the defense has not held the same on-field presence, currently allowing 32 points a game, good for second-worst in the Big 12.

While the offense has had plenty of its own issues, the continuous defensive struggles are, without a doubt, more surprising to Sun Devils fans. 

With the entire squad searching for answers ahead of a home date with Kansas State next week, Dillingham is open to making changes across the board. 

“We just have to get drastically better in the key areas of the game,” Dillingham said. “I’m going to assess all personnel after I watch the tape … in all phases.”