ASU football continues leaning into run-heavy identity vs. Baylor, relying less on passing game

Sam Leavitt gave Arizona State its first touchdown in a 27-24 win over Baylor on Saturday when he snuck it as the Sun Devils relied heavily on their rushing attack, leaning less on the pass.

ASU came out with five straight run plays, including one from Leavitt, who was unable to complete any of the three passes he tried on the first drive. Raleek Brown and Kanye Udoh provided the positive rushes needed to get into field goal position for Jesus Gomez, who would later hit the game-winning field goal as time expired.

Leavitt got his first completion on the next drive, a short pass to tight end Cameron Harpole. He also nearly found Jordyn Tyson deep but a Baylor defender dislodged the ball at the last moment.

Because of how few times ASU was attempting downfield passes, it was then notable when the Sun Devils ran the ball on third-and-13 in their own territory to end that drive.

The rhythm passing locked in more on Arizona State’s third drive, which saw five passes (four complete) to eight rushes, including two sneaks to punctuate the drive in the end zone.

ASU had 99 rushing yards (23 carries) in the first half compared to 58 passing yards (14 attempts), with Brown’s 52 yards on 10 carries leading the way. The second half was more balanced with 25 rushes and 18 pass attempts, and Leavitt got more comfortable as the game went on.

ASU coach Kenny Dillingham told reporters postgame much of the run usage was due to not wanting to get in a shootout with a Baylor offense that scored over 40 points in each of its previous two games.

Leavitt finished with 221 passing yards on 22-for-32 with one touchdown. He also rushed for 62 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries.

Kyson Brown, who returned to the running back rotation after he was injured in the Week 2 loss at Mississippi State, had four touches for nine total yards.

Why did Arizona State lean into run game vs. Baylor?

The Sun Devils reestablished the run game as their bread and butter in the second half of the Mississippi State loss, where there were multiple drives of all runs. It was necessitated partially by a 5-for-15 first half from Leavitt.

Dillingham has emphasized how the run game opens up the other parts of the ASU offense, as well as how it gets Leavitt and the offense into a good rhythm.

In the matchup against Baylor, running the ball as much as possible puts ASU’s strength of rushing offense (second in Power Four) against Baylor’s weakness of rush defense (66th out of 68 Power Four teams), per PFF.

Running the ball also kept the time-of-possession advantage with Arizona State when facing the prolific Baylor passing offense (149 passing yards in first half).

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