Here’s Why Arizona State’s National Buzz Is Fading

TEMPE -- The 2025 season has been up-and-down for the Arizona State Sun Devils in the follow-up to a College Football Playoff berth a year ago.

Arizona State fell to the Houston Cougars in week nine of the season - this was a game in which the latter was up 24-0 going into the fourth quarter before a late rally made the game appear closer compared to what it ended up being. The loss essentially undid the positive developments that were made by defeating Texas Tech the week prior.

David Hale of ESPN believes that one of the most interesting headlines in college football heading into week 10 of the season is that the Sun Devils' profile has shrunk in the Big 12 once again following the loss.

Why Arizona State's Profile Has Worsened

"Imagine for a moment you're Arizona State, trailing Houston by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter with Jeff Sims at QB. Actually, don't imagine that. You've done nothing to deserve that type of horror.

The important thing here is Sam Leavitt and the Sun Devils struggled early, Leavitt left with an injury, and despite Sims' first touchdown pass since before ChatGPT existed, Houston still won 24-16."

One might point to being without star WR Jordyn Tyson as a reason why the team lost to Houston, but head coach Kenny Dillingham shut down the notion that Tyson's playing would have definitely changed the outcome of the game in his post-game press conference.

"We didn't play good enough to win. You know, maybe if he played, maybe we have survived not playing good enough to win. But that doesn't mean we played good enough to win. You know, you got to look at the facts, and the facts are, we lost turnover battle. We had too many penalties. We lost field position. We couldn't stop the plus one run game."

The Sun Devils committed 12 penalties, missed two field goals, allowed Houston QB Conner Weigman to average over five yards per carry, and the offense remained stagnant before the final 15 minutes of the game.

Now, Arizona State has two conference losses - trailing behind Cincinnati, Brigham Young, Utah, Texas Tech, and others - while also having to stay ahead of surging rivals such as Kansas State.