Too little, too late as ASU falls 24-16 to Houston for first home loss under Kenny Dillingham

TEMPE, Ariz. – Arizona State was shut out in the first half for the first time this season and lost its first home game under coach Kenny Dillingham since 2023 on Saturday night.

Houston came into Mountain America Stadium and punched ASU in the mouth. The Cougars ran for 183 yards, including 111 yards from quarterback Connor Weigman.

“They ran the ball too efficiently with their quarterback,” Dillingham said. “You got to give it to Connor, man. That dude was a warrior for them tonight. To take the snap and run quarterback direct run 20 times, 18 times. You got to give him a lot of credit because he did a nice job.”

ASU’s slow start

The Sun Devils were held scoreless through three quarters before scoring 16 unanswered points in the final quarter, but it was too little, too late at that point.

ASU got the ball back with just over two minutes remaining down eight points. However, with sophomore quarterback Sam Leavitt out of the game, backup senior quarterback Jeff Sims wasn’t able to drive the Sun Devils down the field to tie the game.

Houston went up 10-0 early in the first quarter with scores in its first two drives, and that remained the score until halftime. ASU missed a field goal and fumbled once in the first half to halt any chances at scoring.

Then, the Cougars scored touchdowns on each of their first two drives in the second half to open up a 24-0 lead, and silence Mountain America Stadium.

The Sun Devils finally responded with three straight scoring drives to get within eight points. However, that was as close as ASU came in its first home loss in Tempe since Dillingham was hired.

“It’s great to set an expectation to win every home game. That’s how it should be. You should have the expectation to win every home game,” Dillingham said. “You’re not going to, but that should be the expectation, and that’s the expectation I have too.

“It was upsetting that we didn’t get it done for the fans tonight. They’ve been great.”

Here’s three takeaways from ASU’s loss on Saturday night.

Penalties, penalties, penalties

You can’t blame the game on the referees, but there was a lot of yellow laundry on the field on Saturday night.

There was a combined 19 penalties in the game, and it felt like there was a penalty every single time there was a big play.

Houston had seven penalties for 50 yards and ASU had 12 penalties for 76 yards. The only reason ASU’s total was under 100 yards was because plenty of its penalties were half the distance to the goal line.

For the Cougars, it was pre-snap penalties. Six of Houston’s seven penalties were pre-snap penalties that always seemed to come after a big play to give the ASU defense life.

However, ASU evened those advantages out with penalties of it own. The Sun Devils had 12 penalties on the night, and many of them seemed to come at crucial times.

The Sun Devils forced a fumble before the Cougars’ first touchdown, but they were offsides and called for an unnecessary roughness penalty that set Houston up inside the 1-yard line.

Then, ASU was called for an illegal shift on what would have been a touchdown in the second quarter, and was called for pass interference on a third down that would’ve gotten the defense off the field in the third quarter.

Then, the Sun Devils were called for a targeting foul on the goal line, which set up Houston with a new set of downs, ready to score. To make matters worse, ASU had multiple special teams penalties that hurt its field position.

At multiple points throughout the game, fans were chanting, “Ref you suck, ref you suck,” and the game had to be stopped momentarily because fans were throwing stuff onto the field.

ASU’s offense struggled to get going

As mentioned above, ASU was held scoreless through three quarters, and it was the first time this season the Sun Devils didn’t score in the first half.

ASU was without star sophomore receiver Jordyn Tyson, and it showed early on. The Sun Devils had just 30 passing yards in the first quarter and 98 passing yards in the first half.

However, the run game couldn’t get going either, with just 64 yards in the Sun Devils’ scoreless first half.

“They’re a big twist team, so I think the TFLs early were getting us behind the chains,” Dillingham said. “Then, they were doing a nice job on third down, with third and longs you’re not going to be productive.

“So, combination of not capitalizing and getting points when you move the ball down there, then turning the ball over near the 50 … we couldn’t stay in a good enough rhythm.”

To Dillingham’s point, ASU had three punts, a missed field goal and a turnover on its five first half possessions.

However, the Sun Devils scored two touchdowns and a field goal on its six second half possessions.

ASU found somewhat of a groove on offense in the third quarter going into the fourth quarter, earning 264 total yards in the second half and all 16 of its points in the fourth quarter.

Malik McClain may have established himself as WR No. 2

There wasn’t a lot of highlights on Saturday night, but senior receiver Malik McClain was one of them. The senior receiver had struggled to get going this season but broke out in a nice way against Houston.

McClain came into the game with six catches for 51 yards on the season. Many will remember McClain’s huge catch in the Peach Bowl against Texas last year.

The Sun Devils’ senior redshirted last year and played in the postseason so he could save his senior season for 2025. However, it had been rather disappointing until Saturday night.

McClain blew his season numbers out of the water against Houston with seven catches for 159 yards. While ASU was passing for almost the entire second half, it was still exciting to finally see McClain break through on the action.

“It was awesome to see Malik really flash tonight. That was a positive,” Dillingham said. “That showed up all spring ball, all fall camp. So, kind of get that back, that could be big for us as we progress toward the end of the season.”

As for the rest of the receiving room, Dillingham did not comment on Tyson’s availability for next week. He said he would know more on Monday.

What’s next for ASU football?

While Saturday night’s loss was a gut-punch and laid a big hit on ASU’s Big 12 Championship aspirations, Dillingham reminded everyone the season’s not over.

“We have the same record in conference as we had last year at this exact time,” Dillingham said. “It’s funny, last year is like, there is no hope, right? This year, there is hope. It’s funny how you can get lost in this whole thing.

“Everybody’s got to look themselves in the mirror – coaches, players, everybody, and we got to go improve and that’s all you can do.”

The Sun Devils now have two losses in Big 12 play and sit tied for fifth in the conference. However, ASU doesn’t play the two undefeated teams in the conference (BYU and Cincinnati), and Houston has the tiebreaker over the Sun Devils.

ASU has put itself in a tough position, but all it can do now is win out and hope other games fall in its favor.

The Sun Devils travel to Iowa State next weekend to face the Cyclones.

Thank you for reading Sun Devil Daily! Follow us on Twitter to stay up to date with Arizona State news! For feedback, questions, concerns, or to apply for a writing position, please email our Managing Editor at santo.d0506@gmail.com. Also, make sure to check out the Sun Devil Daily shop for merchandise! Forks up!