Sun Devils travel to Cincinnati without starting QB Leavitt

Photo courtesy of Cincinnati Athletics

As the dust finally settled on the trampled Mountain America Stadium field in Tempe, last Friday night, an overwhelming sense of accomplishment thickened the air. Just hours before Arizona State had upset then No.16 Utah and pandemonium had ensued as the field was rushed with elation. It was an outpouring of emotion of a win that substantiated the blistering 5-1 start ASU has had.

The time of the Sun Devils’ surprising teams is over. That ended against the Utes when they boldly quelled preseason predictions that ASU would finish last in the Big 12 conference by beating the preseason favorite Utah. Now expectations refocus on climbing into the upper echelon of Big 12 teams.

Senior running back Cam Skattebo – now the nation’s sixth-leading rusher – proclaimed, “We just beat number 16 in the country so who says we can’t beat anybody else,” following ASU’s win.

Now the first of “everybody else” is here as the Sun Devils will take to the road for their longest road trip of the year. They will journey just under 900 miles and over two time zones to take on the (4-2, 2-1) Cincinnati Bearcats, led by second-year head coach Scott Satterfield, in Nipper Stadium. ASU will notably have to manage without their starting quarterback redshirt freshman Sam Leavitt who is sidelined with a rib injury.

In his place will be transfer senior Jeff Simms who came over from Nebraska in the spring. He’ll be tasked with navigating what is just another challenge and mountain to climb for the Sun Devils in the Bearcats. While the team has one more loss than ASU it has lost its two games by a combined four points.

The fact that such a minuscule margin separates Cincinnati from being undefeated, coupled with this game being its homecoming weekend game, and a change in the aforementioned time zones and ASU gets quite the tricky puzzle to solve. It’s just another obstacle the Sun Devils must overcome in pursuit of further success.

“Playing on the road (against) a really good opponent,” ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham said. “We got a great challenge ahead of us. It’s homecoming weekend for them so it’s going to be loud. It’s at 9:00 a.m. our time (Noon kickoff local time) so that’s a challenge. We have a lot of challenges ahead of us and it’s all about us. We have to stay focused on the work.”

Offense

Total Offense: 460.5 yards/game (T-2nd Big 12), 31 points/game (6th Big 12)

Passing: 1,747 yards (4th Big 12), 291.2 yards/game (4th Big 12)

Rushing: 1,016 yards (9th Big 12), 169.3 yards/game (9th Big 12)

Cincinnati’s offense is one of the most potent in the conference. Its 460.5 yards per game are tied for the second most in the Big 12 with Texas Tech, which is the only opponent to beat the Sun Devils so far. Satterfield took the reigns of the Bearcats in 2023 after three seasons running the show at Louisville. Previously an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Florida International and Appalachian State, he’s an offensive mind by trade.

Joining him at the head of the offensive coaching staff is coordinator Dan Pitcher who was the quarterback’s coach for the Cincinnati Bengals from 2020-2023. Pitcher is lauded for helping Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow on his meteoric rise to the top of the league highlighted by a Super Bowl berth in 2021.

Cincinnati runs an uptempo style of attack on offense predicated on utilizing the arm talent and playmaking ability of Redshirt sophomore quarter Brendan Sorsby. Sorsby has soared this season under Satterfield having thrown for 1,722 passing yards to date, good for 15th most in the country. Going into Week 8 he has the third most in the Big 12 and the most of any quarterback ASU has already or will face this season.

Sorsby is a dual-threat mobile quarterback who uses his legs to extend plays to open up deep throws or run himself. While he’s thrown 13 touchdowns he also leads the team with four rushing touchdowns. He’s somewhat of a wildcard that will force ASU’s defense ot stay extremely disciplined to avoid surrendering big plays. Sorsby’s 12.95 yards per completion is the 35th most in the country.

“We have to respect [Sorsby] and his arm,” ASU redshirt freshman defensive back Montana Warren said. “He’s a gunslinger. He likes to throw the ball deep.”

The Bearcats rushing attack is headed by one of the most physical backs in the country in senior Corey Kiner. Kiner is currently eighth in the nation in missed tackles forced missed tackles with 39. The stout 5 foot, 9 inch 210 210-pound back is averaging 82 yards a game in Sattersfield offense. The former LSU transfer is on pace for his second straight 1,000-yard season after tallying 1,047 in 2023.

The Bearcats feature a change-of-pace back in the explosive Ohio State transfer Evan Pryor. The redshirt junior is averaging a staggering 8.9 yards per carry through six games with a total of 270 yards.

Cincinnati returns its leading receiver from 2023 to its stable of weapons in senior Xzavier Henderson. The former Florida transfer led the group with 782 receiving yards a season ago and was an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention in his first year with the Bearcats. Now he has only improved. Already at 474 receiving yards in six games, he’s on pace for 948 yards in 2024.

Redshirt junior tight end Joe Royer is considered one of the best in the nation at his position and a notable NFL draft prospect. Royer has caught 28 balls (seventh nationally among tight ends) for 347 yards and 2 touchdowns this season. Royer was given a round 2-3 draft projection by Charles Power of 247Sports for his high skillset as a pass catcher and ability to create separation from defenders. Over the past two games, he has collected 15 receptions for 150 yards. He spearheads a wealth of options for which the Bearcats can use to attack ASU’s defense.

“They’re as dynamic as any team we’ve seen,” ASU defensive coordinator Brian Ward said. “Maybe even a touch more.”

The most telling unit of all may just be the offensive line. Cincinnati returns all five starters from 2023 in which the group received a PFF grade within the top 25 in the country. The star of that unit is right guard Luke Kandra, one of the best interior offensive linemen in America. The former Louisville transfer had the third-highest grade among power five guards in 2023 and has continued to excel in 2024.

The line sets the stage for fireworks this offense looks to produce and ASU will attempt to limit to allow for their Leavitt-less offense to keep pace.

“They’re explosive,” Ward said. “I know that their identity is to set everything off of the run. You just see some of the explosive touchdowns they’ve had this year and the speed that they have on offense. That’s the thing that really jumps out”

Defense

Total Defense: 164.8 yards/game (14th Big 12), 20.2 points/game (4th Big 12)

Passing: 1446 yards (11th Big 12), 241 yards/game (11th Big 12)

Rushing: 998 yards (14th Big 12), 164.8 yards/game (14th Big 12)

This contest very well may be won or lost by the effectiveness of the ASU offense against Cincinnati’s defense. Huge question marks exist about how different the level of productivity will look with Simms under center as opposed to Leavitt. Dillingham insists otherwise.

“We brought [Simms] in to compete to start,” Dillingham said. “He had a good camp. Now a guy who’s started a crap ton of games gets to go start again. (Only) One of the 22 guys we’re starting is different. Go win a football game.”

The transition between quarterbacks will be aided by a matchup with one of the conference’s most permeable defenses. The Bearcats’ defense ranks in the bottom fourth of the Big 12 in total defense and will have its hands full containing ASU’s 21st-in-the-nation-ranked rushing attack.

In Cincinnati’s four games against power conference programs this year, the Bearcats have allowed an average of 192.3 rushing yards per game on an average of 5.4 yards per carry which ASU will likely be eager to take advantage of.

However it should not be confused, while Cincinnati allows a considerable number of yards, they are one of the hungriest in the nation in forcing turnovers. Their seven fumble recoveries are tied for the third-best in the entire country.

“They do a really good job at taking the ball away,” ASU offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo said. “Punching the ball, stripping the ball, you can see that’s an emphasis.”

The Bearcats commonly operate out of a three-man defensive front headlined by standout nose tackle redshirt junior Dontay Corleone with ends, redshirt junior defensive end Rob Jackson, and redshirt senior Eric Phillips, rushing beside him.

Corleone is one of the stars of the entire defensive unit. The 320-pound mainstay in the middle was a Second-Team All-Big 12 selection in 2023. This year he’s back to more of the same dominance already posting 17 tackles, four tackles for loss with three sacks, and four quarterback hurries, despite only playing five of the team’s six games so far due to injury.

Phillips has only been a notable contributor to the Cincinnati line with a team-leading four sacks, 11 total tackles, including 4.5 for loss, three quarterback hurries, and a forced fumble. The two have done their part in wreaking havoc in backfields so far.

The linebacking core is led by redshirt senior Jared Bartlett who leads the team in tackles with with 30 tackles. What’s more telling is he ranks second on the team with 3.5 sacks, evidence of a heavier blitz scheme from Cincinnati defensive coordinator Tyson Veidt.

While Simms is an experienced quarterback with 32 career games played he has yet to start a game in 2024 and will likely still be shaking the rust off come kickoff. Additionally, Simms has always plied his trade more with his explosive speed using his legs than his arm in comparison to Leavitt.

Veidt will presumably blitz early and often to allow Simms little to no time to get acclimated to operaitng the offense at full speed and using his arm as opposed to his legs. However, with the Sun Devils sporting one of the nation’s premier backs in Skattebo, the offense isn’t expected to adjust significantly from the change.

“We’re going to play to the strengths of our quarterback,” Dillingham said. “But at the same time, we’re going to do what we do.”

The 3-3-5 defense Cincinnati utilizes under Veidt is used to allow for more players to drop into coverage in the defensive backfield. This makes throwing the ball considerably more challenging. Traditionally teams use a defense in which at any given point there are four players on the defensive line. With only three it allows for a pass coverage shell of up to eight players hawking passing lanes.

The switch to the secondary-laden 3-3-5 system was to improve on a unit that along with the defense as a whole allowed 30 points a game in 2023 which was 100th out of 130 FBS D1 NCAA teams total.

Senior safety Josh Minkins leads the team with two interceptions. He will be joined in the secondary by starting cornerbacks redshirt sophomore cornerback Kalen Carroll and redshirt junior Jordan Young along with fellow redshirt senior safety Derrick Canteen. The unit as a whole has allowed the 11th most total passing yards in the Big 12 through seven weeks.

They’ll have to lean on Veidt’s scheme instead of individual talent to stifle Simms and ASU in his first start of the season.

“They have a bunch of guys who play hard in that scheme,” ASU offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo said. They’re sound, and you can see they’re really starting to come to fruition with what they need to do in that defense.”