Football

Takeaways: Sun Devils Clinch Bowl Eligibility With Win Over Oklahoma State

With 22 seconds remaining in the first half Arizona State football found itself a single yard away from a touchdown. On 3rd-and-goal in a tied game, conventional football wisdom said a touchdown in this scenario to end the half against Oklahoma State in Stillwater would be paramount.

The Cowboys were set to receive the second-half kick and should ASU either settle for a field goal or fail to score altogether, that would have left the door open for their opponents to regain the lead directly out of the break at home.

Senior running back Cam Skattebo promptly punched in his second touchdown of what was an authoritative first half and eventually entire game for him. It was a crucial score however – considering what he, his head coach Kenny Dillingham, and any of the 50,000-plus fans in Oklahoma could have guessed with just a simple glance to the dreary sky above – it was the last play of consequence for over two-and-a-half hours, only amplifying its importance.

Finally, after an extended wait, a second half did ensue, and ASU seemed to be the only team to come back out of the tunnel delivering a 42-21 pummeling of its new Big 12 adversary. Here are three takeaways from the game.

Inclement Weather Causes Extended Delay

ASU (6-2, 3-2) was originally set to kick off against Oklahoma State at 4:30 p.m. MST, but due to impending tornado warnings in the area, the time was moved up to 12:30 p.m. a day prior. Before any football had been played the game had already been marred by weather. The obvious goal seemed to get the game in and avoid the impending bad weather.

Mother Nature didn’t care about football.

With about three minutes to play in the second half viewers at home would have noticed a distinct change in their viewing experience. Instead of a tighter moving shot customary to football games they were treated to a still wide shot. FOX play-by-play announcer Connor Onion announced the move was for the safety of the equipment and personnel amidst thunderstorms rolling in. It was a sign of things to come.

After Skattebo punched ASU ahead 21-14, lighting traversed the night sky leaving little doubt a delay was necessary. ASU likely hoped the game would not resume considering the official Big 12 rulebook states as follows:

“If a game is suspended before the end of the fourth period and cannot be resumed, the following will apply: [1] if one-half of the game {two quarters} has not been completed, it shall be declared a “no contest” [2] IF more than one-half of the game {two quarters} has been completed, the team ahead at the time of suspension shall be the winner. If the score is tied it shall be declared a tie.”

Surprisingly enough, this isn’t the first time weather has significantly delayed an ASU game under Dillingham’s regime. The first game the second-year head coach ever traversed a sideline for the Sun Devils was an August 2023 week one game against Southern Utah in Tempe. A haboob system rolled over Mountian America Stadium suspending play that time for over three hours. ASU came out of that extended period relatively flat getting outscored 14-3 in the second half and barely etching out a 24-21 victory from the Thunderbirds out of the FCS.

When the second half finally did start it was very clear, as it has been all season, that this wasn’t the 2023 Sun Devils. The sky opening up brought rain and an unleashed Sun Devil offense with it. ASU blitzed the Cowboys out the gate scoring 21 unanswered points — all with running backs — using its physicality to condemn Oklahoma State to its sixth straight loss in convincing fashion.

Is Cam Skattebo The Best Running Back In The Big 12?

Entering 2024, Oklahoma State junior running back Ollie Gordon II was hailed as a legitimate Heisman candidate, and rightfully so. Coming off a season in which Gordon ran for 1,732 yards and 21 touchdowns, it was a seeming consensus that Gordon was the best running back in the conference, if not the best offensive weapon overall in the league among everyone not named Colorado’s Travis Hunter.

That title very may well belong to Skattebo now. Gordon has sputtered out of the gate averaging only 63 yards per game amidst his team’s colossal slide to the bottom of the conference standings. He was limited to 25 rushing yards against ASU.

Contrary to Gordon’s rough start. Skattebo has flown out of the gate barreling over any defender or team in his way, leading the Sun Devils’ resurgence. Skattebo’s 153 yards against the Cowboys was his fourth 150-plus yard game on the season. He also added a touchdown on the ground. The senior tallied 783 rushing yards and nine touchdowns all of 2023. Now through just eight games of 2024, he’s already galloped to 848 yards and 10 touchdowns and collected three Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week awards.

What separates Skattebo has never been solely his effective bruising style of play but his versatility as a complete offensive weapon. While currently ranked fourth in the conference in rushing yards he leads all running backs in receiving yards (404) with second place over 150 yards away. The former Paul Hornung Award finalist — given to the nation’s most versatile player — scythed through the Cowboy’s defense both on the ground and through the air with 4 catches for 121 yards and 2 receiving touchdowns, bringing his total to three scores on the day.

He had his chance to directly outperform the incumbent consensus premier back in Gordon and did so-handedly. The statement had already been made by the halftime delay as Skattebo had 80 rushing yards with 61 receiving by the intermission. More than that he had eight forced missed tackles, further evidence of his physical superiority and continuing the cementing of his case to sit on that specific mantle as the conference’s best back. If further evidence is needed for his claim: Skattebo’s 274 total yards was more than the 270 that the entire Oklahoma State team could muster altogether.

The Devils Are Going Bowling

Yes, you heard that correctly, the Arizona State Sun Devils, who have won six games in its past two seasons combined have secured bowl eligibility for the first time since 2021. Little saw this sort of season coming from ASU prior to Week 1. Coming into 2024 amidst the addition of four new schools to the conference, the media voted on a preseason standings poll.

ASU was picked dead last.

Safe to say all expectations have been obliterated as the Sun Devils now sit in sixth or sixteenth place with four games to play and firmly in distant striking distance of a conference title berth. While unlikely, the path has not closed yet and is far more open than initial expectations.

As a legacy Pac-12 school having only left the conference last season ASU is eligible for the existing Pac-12 spots in Bowl games. This means the Devils postseason play will be in one of the following games:

LA Bowl (Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles, CA)
Las Vegas Bowl ( Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, NV)
Alamo Bowl (Alamodome, San Antonion, TX.)
Independence Bowl (Independence Stadium, Shreveport, LA.)
Sun Bowl (Sun Bowl Stadium, El Paso, TX.)

For ASU to be in a position to be in bowl eligibility in the Dillingham era is far from unexpected. However, to have this team dominating games in this fashion while rolling to postseason play in just year two of the regime can give Sun Devil fans a wealth of options for the extended future so long as Dillingham is on the sidelines.

ASU still has four games remaining to continue to climb the conference ladder however it will be its toughest stretch of the season. The Sun Devils get two ranked matchups in No. 17 Kansas State, and No. 9 and undefeated BYU. Those matchups will be the true measuring stick of where this team lies and truly what the heights can be.