(Photo: Spencer Barnes/WCSN)
TEMPE — There have always been questions surrounding the Arizona State Football team. There were questions when the program hired Kenny Dillingham. After he and his team went 3-9 in his first season in charge, there were questions. Entering the first season of ASU being in the Big 12, the media picked ASU to finish dead last, posing questions about the program. After a mid-October win against then-ranked No. 16 Utah that incited a field rush, the team wasn’t ranked the day after, proving the powers that be had more questions about the program.
On Saturday night, No. 21 ASU (9-2, 6-2 Big 12) faced No. 14 BYU (9-2, 6-2 Big 12) in the first ranked matchup in Tempe in a decade. The Sun Devils had a chance to move ahead of the then Big 12-leading Cougars and control its own destiny toward a championship spot. With time expiring on the fourth quarter and on fourth down, ASU redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt launched the ball as high he could out of bounds in an attempt to bleed out the clock. The ball sailed out of bounds as the clock struck zero.
Pandemonium ensued. Fans rushed the field. The referees still had questions.
A sea of humanity stormed the field as the referees found their way to the replay board. After what felt like an eternity it was determined, in spite of Dillingham’s fury, that a second and one play for BYU to attempt a hail mary from over 50 yards away remained. The field had to be cleared, and ASU had one more question to answer about its validity as a contender for the Big 12 championship game and, by proxy, the College football playoff.
After the field was cleared, BYU junior quarterback Jake Retzlaff sent a prayer into the sky. ASU had its final answer. The ball fell five yards short, the field was rushed again, and ASU moved into complete control of its path to a Big 12 championship game and the number one place in the conference.
“It doesn’t matter whatever happened at the end, it happened,” Dillingham said. “You know what? We got to rush, twice, How about that? We rushed the field three times this year. That’s pretty cool. How many people get the opportunity to do that?”
In a night that will echo through the Valley of the Sun for years to come the Sun Devils downed the Cougars 28-23 cementing a clear path through Tucson to the Big 12 championship game. Here are key takeaways from the cornerstone win on ASU’s reassertion resume amongst the upper echelon of college football.
Second-Half Struggles
For the second straight game, ASU struggled to capitalize on early dominance. In its win the week prior to BYU, ASU took a 21-0 lead into the break against Kansas State and was outscored 14-3 in the second half. ASU blitzed the Cougars from the outset of Saturday’s game taking a 21-3 lead into the second half. The final score reflected an entirely closer matchup.
The ocugars stormed back out of the break proving why they entered the day leading the Big 12. The offense that was relatively stagnant in the first half opened the flood quotes in the third quarter. After gaining 114 total yards in the first half, Retzlaff sparked his team to 164 yards in the third quarter alone and 14 points. It was never enough to worry Dillingham.
“(I was telling my team), ‘We’re still winning,’” DIllingham said. “it gets tighter and tighter, ‘Guys, we’re still winning like relax, We’ll make one play. Just make one play the rest of the game we won.’”
Midway through eh third quarter BYU deployed a cover 1 zone coverage leaving one safety high in the center of the field and every other player guarding zones underneath. Off the play action, Leavitt found a wide-open Xavier Guillory for a 61-yard touchdown pass. The senior receiver found himself in acres of space due to running behind the underneath coverage and near the sideline away from the safety in the middle of the field.
“it just felt awesome that (Leavitt) trusted me in that play,” Guillory said. “It turned out to be a big play when it came down to the game.”
Other than the one-play 60-yard explosion, ASU’s offense sputtered to only 133 yards of total offense in the second half. Dillingham’s message urging relaxation echoed throughout his offense and the defense came through to secure the win.
“We would be naive to think if we were just gonna blow every single team,” Guillory said. “When we go out there, we’re just calm and stuff. So no frustration. Yeah, you get low, like a little mad, but when we get in the field, we completely trust each other. We know what we can do. We trust our coaches. We just trust the players. Just go out there and execute.”
Gutsy Dillingham Playcalling
If Dillingham showed one thing in this game it was that he feared nothing, especially failure. After getting ahead 14-0 with five minutes remaining in the second half, BYU in all likelihood, based on common football knowledge expected to receive the kickoff with a chance to stop the bleeding with a drive before halftime. Common football knowledge said an onside kick would risk allowing the opposing team significantly better field position and therefore a better chance to score in less amount of time.
Dillingham had other ideas. He knew his squib kick package came with a wrinkly built-in to – in his opinion- mitigate risk while still having a very low possibility of a game-altering play. He ran it.
“That was actually a squib kick,” Dillingham said. “When we squib it, the way they angled their dude, we said, ‘Let’s squib it, but we also try to hit him on the way to the squib. So if it hits him, we have a chance to recover it, but if we don’t hit him, we, you know, recover the ball around the 30-35-yard line.’ So it’s a, it’s a very low-risk onside kick. It’s like, hey if it works, ‘whoa.’ If it doesn’t work, they get the ball on 32-35 (yard line) so very, very low risk.”
It worked, allowing ASU to drive right back down the field and go up 21-0 before allowing BYU any chance at a rebuttal. However, as the old adage goes those who live by the sword may also die from it and Dillingham nearly died on his risk-taking sword.
He attempted five fourth downs only getting two of them. Two of the failures came in the red zone. One from four yards away in the first half when he and his staff opted to attempt a pass into the endzone that Leavitt skied leaving ASU scoreless for the drive.
The most paramount of these decisions came with three minutes remaining. With Byu only trialing by 5 ASU had driven down to a fourth-and-1, just 11 yards away from a game-sealing touchdown. A field goal would have put the Sun Devils up eight forcing BYU to drive the length of the field, score, and get a two-point conversion where ASU had already stopped one such attempt, just to tie. A miss would force BYU into all of those steps still minus the latter, and the Cougars could win.
Dillingham didn’t sway from his philosophy. With one yard to go, the equation was simple. A simple handoff from Leavitt to star senior running back Cam Skattebo like they have thousands of times before and they’d pick up the game-clinching new set of downs. Leavitt took the snap and turned to his right shoulder, like he has thousands of times before, ready to hand the ball off, except, to his chagrin, Skattebo wasn’t there. Through some miscommunication, the running back had gone left leaving Leavitt to try and save the broken play with his legs himself. He was tackled short leaving the door open for BYU to go and steal the game from ASU’s clutches.
“Fourth-and-1, we’re going to go for it,” Dillingham said. “If you can’t get fourth-and-1 consistently you’re not going to be a good team anyways so who cares.”
BYU promptly marched down the field to the ASU 39 with over a minute to play before a redshirt sophomore defensive back Javan Robinson slammed the door shut on the potential game-winning drive with an interception. His 64-yard return set up the double-field rush madness that closed this ASU win.
Skattebo’s Superb Senior Showing
In the ASU’s last home game of the season, one in which the Sun Devils finished undefeated in Tempe for the first time since 2004, they honored their seniors. Among them was Skattebo who’s been the focal point for ASU’s resurgence to relevancy. The nation’s 11th leading rusher and four-time Big 12 offensive player of the week entering the game, continued leaving his massive footprint on the program and increasing his NFL resume. The former Sacramento State transfer came to Mountain America Stadium due to his trust in Dillingham to develop him. That trust has proven successful.
“(Dillingham) didn’t just challenge me throughout the offseason,” Skattebo said. “He’s challenged me every day. He knows when I’m having a bad day or an off day, or looking sluggish, and he gets on me about it.”
Skattebo towed ASU to its win over its top-15 opponent with a resounding 28 carries, 147 yards, and three touchdowns
Skattebo’s hat trick of scores all came in the first half quickly announcing his presence to the BYU defense and the sold-out homecoming crowd in Tempe. No other player has earned more conference offensive players of the week this season than the senior has and he’s been making his claim to being worthy if transitioning from playing on Saturdays to Sundays.
For him, it’s far from a given.
“I’m doing my best to put in the work because I understand and I could play at the next level.,” Skattebo said. “If I don’t put the work in, it’s not gonna happen. So with him challenging me and me trying my best to, put in all the work, it’s just it’s all paying off, and that’s why I respect him so much, and everybody loves him, because everybody understands he’s doing it for the right lesson. Look, we’re 9-2, and we’re in the first place”
Despite the struggles ASU endured Skattebo and company can lay claim to their own destiny with a chance for the Big 12 championship. While Dillingham coached with equal parts bravery and reckless abandon his star running back steadied the ship. However it got done, whether close or not, the win is posted and ASU now moves on to a potential championship spot-clinching game with its rival to the south, Arizona, Thanksgiving weekend.
“Who cares,” Dillingham said. “We won the football game”
