No. 14 Sun Devils hit 10-win mark, avenge 2023 loss with rout of Arizona

(Photo: Marina Williams/WCSN)

TUCSON — Despite No. 14 Arizona State football featuring 60 newcomers, head coach Kenny Dillingham didn’t need to do too much to motivate his team for Saturday’s game at Arizona.

First and foremost, it marked the 98th iteration of the Territorial Cup, the oldest rivalry trophy in college football. But this year, another layer of implications were added to the mix. An unlikely — but possible — doomsday scenario aside, a victory would all but secure the Sun Devils a spot in the Dr. Pepper Big 12 Championship Game next week. Win there and they would be headed to the College Football Playoff.

If that’s not enough, Dillingham and members of last year’s team haven’t forgotten the 59-23 thrashing at the hands of Arizona in 2023 en route to a second consecutive 3-9 campaign. The Sun Devils (10-2, 7-2 Big 12) didn’t let that happen again because this time, they were the ones dishing out the beatdown, amassing 643 yards of offense and clobbering the Wildcats (4-8, 2-7 Big 12) 49-7.

“Absolutely incredible accomplishment by our guys to go from what we did last year… to what we did this year,” Dillingham said. “It’s remarkable the turnaround that those guys in that leadership and that group (have) been able to do in one year. It’s a special group and we should all cherish it.”

As has been the norm for much of the season, ASU heavily relied on senior running back Cam Skattebo throughout the game — especially coming off a three-touchdown effort last weekend against then-No. 14 BYU. At the end of the first quarter, he was already two-thirds of the way to replicating that stat line and helped the Sun Devils to an early 14-0 lead by taking a pair of direct snaps to the house.

By the end of the first half, he had his third score and accrued over 88 yards, meaning he eclipsed 4,000 rushing yards in his career. Skattebo finished with 177 rushing yards and was also named the Bob Moran MVP, awarded to the most outstanding player in each year’s Territorial Cup.

On Saturday, it wasn’t only Skattebo making things happen on the ground as he had a nice compliment in sophomore Kyson Brown. Seeing more reps in the past couple of weeks, Brown had a career day against the Wildcats, rushing for 100 yards and putting together multiple big runs where he broke tackles or made defenders miss.

That’s not to say ASU wasn’t throwing the ball, though. Redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt often had ample time to make decisions in the pocket and it showed, as he completed 17 of his 22 passes for 291 yards and three passing touchdowns. One of those was a screen in the red zone that redshirt sophomore wideout Jordyn Tyson took 13 yards to the house.

“(It was) a testament to a great game plan,” Leavitt said. “Our (offensive) line, obviously (Skattebo) and (Brown) balling, (it was) pretty easy for me. I’m just doing check downs and (passing to) wide-open guys. So testament to them, and super happy for our team.”

Although redshirt sophomore quarterback Noah Fifita and junior wideout Tetairoa McMillan — widely regarded as one of college football’s best receivers — had some connections, ASU substantially limited Arizona’s offense in the first half. About two-and-a-half minutes into the second, the Wildcats lined up to take a 55-yard field goal after a false start moved them back five yards. Senior kicker Tyler Loop, whose season-long is 62 yards, missed wide-right, squandering perhaps his team’s best opportunity to put up points in the first half.

Up 35-0 going into the final 30 minutes, the Sun Devils looked to be well on their way to an easy victory. However, for a team that has grown so much in the last calendar year, there has been one glaring issue: an ability to put opponents away and close out games. Look no further than BYU’s near-comeback last weekend.

For just a moment, the smallest inkling of a Wildcats’ comeback taking place was present. Receiving the ball to start the third quarter, Arizona put together an eight-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Fifita finding McMillan for a 28-yard score after his No. 1 option beat sophomore cornerback Keith Abney II on a streak. Then, after marching 71 yards downfield on the ensuing series, graduate kicker Parker Lewis missed a chip shot from 21 yards out.

What’s more is that Tyson, Leavitt’s top option for most of the year, went down with an injury on ASU’s next drive after moving his game total to 143 yards on his eighth catch. Shortly thereafter, he exited the medical tent with a sling on his right shoulder.

So, how did ASU respond? By executing a nine-play, 81-yard series that saw Skattebo account for 52 on the ground. Despite his team having its back against the wall on fourth-and-8 just outside of the red zone, Leavitt saw redshirt senior receiver Xavier Guillory outrunning his defender and led him into the end zone with a beautiful 27-yard pass.

“I think our guys were just tired of this whole,‘Whoa, play really good and then, what happened? Like, how did that get so close?” Dillingham said. “I think that’s just a testament to the guys saying,‘Hey, we’re going to come out and we’re going to finish this game. And (Arizona) came out and scored, ironically, and then our guys battled back and finished.”

Although it’s guaranteed that a bowl-eligible ASU squad will play another game after Saturday, where and when that contest was up in the air immediately following the win — a TCU victory over Cincinnati or BYU win over Houston would secure the Sun Devils’ spot in the conference championship. But in the immediate moments following the final whistle, none of that seemed to matter.

After all, ASU had just completed one of the most improbable turnarounds it could possibly muster. One year removed from winning three games, the first-year members of the Big 12 were picked to finish dead last in the conference’s preseason media poll. Now, nearly five months later, the Sun Devils have proved everybody wrong.

Well, everyone except themselves.

“It’s just crazy to see where we came from January,” redshirt junior safety Xavion Alford said. “We never looked ahead, we never let the outside people influence us. We never let them get in our heads, thinking that we can’t do something. We knew what we could do in the building, and it was just up to us to believe in the building.”