ASU heads to Texas Tech for first Big 12 game; ends season vs. Arizona
In early 2023, Arizona State found out who its opponents would be in its first season competing in the Big 12. Now, the Sun Devils have the dates and order of their opponents.
The Big 12 released its 2024 schedule Tuesday. Arizona State, which is coming off a 3-9 showing in the debut season of head coach Kenny Dillingham, will face Texas Tech on Sept. 21 in Lubbock, Texas, in its conference debut.
One storyline sure to play out in that game is that of tight end Jalin Conyers, who excelled at ASU the past three years, transferred close to home and is playing for the Red Raiders, who were 7-6 the past season.
The first Big 12 opponent making a stop in Tempe will be Kansas which is coming off an appearance in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix and comes to Tempe on Oct. 5. The Jayhawks were 9-4 in 2023.
Arizona football schedule 2024: Wildcats open Big 12 Conference play at Utah, end vs. ASU
Other home games will be against Utah (Oct. 11), Central Florida (Nov. 9) and Brigham Young (Nov. 23).
After Texas Tech, road games will be at Cincinnati (Oct. 19), Oklahoma State (Nov. 2), Kansas State (Nov. 16) and Arizona (Nov. 30). There was some speculation about where the ASU-Arizona rivalry game would fall given the transition to the new conference, but it remains as the season finale.
Some foes are familiar ones. Arizona, Utah and Colorado are moving from the Pac-12 with ASU but the Sun Devils will also be playing Oklahoma State for a third straight year. The Sun Devils had a home-and-away series with the Cowboys in 2022 and 2023, losing both games. Oklahoma State is coming off a 10-4 showing and an appearance in the Big 12 title game.
ASU also played at BYU in 2021, losing 27-17.
The nine-game conference slate the Sun Devils will face is the toughest of the 16 teams in the Big 12 based on 2023 overall winning percentages. The nine Sun Devil opponents posted a combined winning percentage of .578, with five winning at least eight games and seven playing in a bowl game.
In addition, the three non-conference opponents combined for a 22-16 overall record and two bowl appearances. The nine 2024 opponents that played in a bowl game finished with a combined 7-2 record in those contests.
The non-conference schedule had already been set with ASU opening with Wyoming on Aug 21. and following that with Mississippi State on Sept. 7, both at Mountain America Stadium. The team will travel to Texas State on Sept. 14.
Texas (12-2, 8-1), which is headed to the SEC next season, was the regular season Big 12 champion the past season and it also won the conference championship game by beating Oklahoma State 49-21.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Big 12 football schedule: ASU will play 5 conference road games
