Arizona State left Lubbock with more than a lopsided loss. It also left with a quarterback question.
After Texas Tech turned a first-quarter takeaway into a 24-yard pick-six, junior Cutter Boley never really settled in, and that was enough for Kenny Dillingham to make his first quarterback switch of the season. With the Sun Devils down 43-10 at halftime in a 53-25 defeat, sixth-year quarterback Mikey Keene took over to open the second half and immediately gave Arizona State a steadier operation.
Keene finished with 256 passing yards and two touchdowns, and he was ASU’s highest-graded player, according to Pro Football Focus, with an 87.1. Dillingham said the move was necessary.
"We were down 30, and you gotta change something," Dillingham said. "Mikey's on the (Pat Tillman) Leadership Council for a reason, and you saw there was a spark there when he went in the football game.
We moved the football, and we were efficient. We took some sacks we don't want to take, but I thought he had great command and control when he was in."
Boley’s day unraveled fast. After Arizona State recovered a fumble on its own 1-yard line to stop Texas Tech’s opening drive, the Sun Devils hoped to answer with a drive that would set the tone. Instead, Boley’s first throw of the game was underthrown to senior receiver Reed Harris, and Texas Tech linebacker Brian Roberts took it back 24 yards for a touchdown.
That was the kind of mistake Boley had largely avoided through his first five games. This time, there was no excuse built into the play. He did not regain his footing from there.
Late in the second quarter, with Arizona State trailing 40-10 and trying to avoid the game slipping further away, Boley threw into double coverage and was picked off by senior linebacker John Curry. Dillingham said the play was against a Tampa 2 zone and that Boley should have expected the middle linebacker to be right where he threw it.
While Boley’s struggles helped bury Arizona State early, Keene’s second appearance of the season looked nothing like his quiet fourth-quarter snaps against Morgan State. He entered with a team that looked flat and needed some kind of jolt. His experience showed.
"I was very happy with how Mikey went in," Dillingham said. "I was very happy with Mikey's leadership and command and his veteran presence in that group.
He did a phenomenal job stepping in and being a leader in that moment. I thought he moved the ball down the field productively."
Even with the better showing, the context mattered. Texas Tech had no reason to press once the lead ballooned, and the Red Raiders spent much of the second half sitting in a soft Cover 4 zone that opened easy throws underneath. Keene worked those windows and helped move Arizona State downfield, but the deficit never got smaller than 26 points.
Keene said the response has to come from inside the locker room.
"It stems from everyone," Keene said. "We gotta have juice on the sideline, and we gotta have juice when we make plays.
It's not on the coaches, it's on us. We got a lot of leadership on this team that needs to step up in a big way, so that's exactly what's gonna happen."
The quarterback change only added urgency to a bigger problem that has dogged Arizona State all season: pass protection. The Sun Devils gave up six sacks against Texas Tech and now have 15 on the year, which is ahead of only Arizona’s 16 and TCU’s 17 in the Big 12.
Dillingham altered the offensive line before kickoff, moving junior Tana Alo-Tupuola from center to right guard and starting junior Wade Helton at center after Helton missed the previous three games with an ankle injury. The switch did not steady things.
Alo-Tupuola struggled against Texas Tech’s interior linemen, including All-American candidate A.J. Holmes.
Junior Champ Westbrooks had an especially rough afternoon on the edge, where he was beaten enough to allow two sacks and draw two holding penalties. He and Alo-Tupuola finished as Arizona State’s lowest-graded offensive players aside from Boley.
There was also movement at right tackle, where freshman Suka Lokotui started in place of fifth-year Jalen Klemm before Lokotui’s second-half injury sent Klemm back onto the field.
The line troubles fit a broader trend. Since Leif Fautanu left after Arizona State’s Big 12 Championship run in 2024, Dillingham has started four different centers over the past two seasons. When Ben Coleman tore his bicep last year, Helton and senior offensive lineman Makua Pule split time at center the rest of the way.
Alo-Tupuola, who transferred from Georgia Tech this winter, was supposed to bring some stability to the middle. Instead, Dillingham said the combination of personnel and injuries kept forcing changes.
"Ben went out last year, so our starter went out," Dillingham said. "We had to move Wade into there, which was great.
Then Tana's played it in the past, and we felt originally that having Tana in there and Wade at guard was a good combo. Then Wade got injured and Tana stepped away for a week.
We just felt like it was better to have Wade make MIKE points and direct things and let Tana just come back and play free."
Now the Sun Devils have a quarterback decision hanging over them too, and Dillingham said he will keep evaluating every spot on the roster. That includes a possible change at the game’s most visible position.
"We gotta look at, 'OK, what have we done well?'" Dillingham said.
"We almost gotta double down on that, because we're doing a lot well. For us, we gotta figure out which players are the guys that are continuing to make plays.
If we have to shake things up, we may have to shake things up."
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