(Photo: Spencer Barnes/WCSN)
TEMPE — It started out as an innocent-looking kickoff with under a minute remaining in the first half.
After redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt and redshirt junior tight end Chamon Metayer connected for a four-yard score to cut UCF’s lead to 17-14, graduate kicker Parker Lewis booted a 65-yard kick that sailed towards freshman defensive back Christian Peterson, who was waiting in the end zone. All he needed to do was take a knee and the Knights would head into halftime ahead; with ASU receiving the ball to start the third quarter, this would’ve been a welcomed decision. Except he dropped the ball.
Then, he hesitated before running out of the end zone but was promptly brought down at the one-yard line. On the next play, junior defensive back Laterrance Welch jumped an in route, picked off redshirt freshman quarterback Dylan Rizk and brought the ball nine yards into the end zone. All season long, head coach Kenny Dillingham has harped on the importance of the middle eight — the final four minutes of the second quarter and first four of the third — and in nine seconds of game time, ASU quickly dominated it.
That short stretch ultimately proved the difference, as the Sun Devils (7-2, 4-2 Big 12) went on to win by one score in a 35-31 victory over UCF (4-6, 2-5 Big 12), marking only the second time they’ve started a season 7-2 in the past 10 years.
“Plus-14, game-changing for us,” Dillingham said of the sequence. “We shouldn’t have won that football game. We played horrible, I didn’t coach great. We shouldn’t have won that game, but guess what? Good teams find a way, and we found a way, and kudos to our guys.”
While ASU won the game, Dillingham’s comments were certainly warranted, especially given how his team came out of the gate. Graduate running back RJ Harvey punched in an eight-yard rushing touchdown to cap off a 13-play, 75-yard opening UCF drive that took nearly eight minutes off the clock. With less than five minutes to play in the first half, the Knights had out-gained ASU 207-38 and led 17-7.
The Sun Devils’ lone score? A blocked punt returned for a touchdown. As the clock crept towards three minutes remaining in the opening quarter, freshman linebacker Martell Hughes got a hand on junior punter Mitch McCarthy’s boot, allowing redshirt freshman defensive back Montana Warren to scoop up the football with nothing but 46 yards of turf between him and the end zone.
Two players who haven’t seen the field regularly made a huge difference for the Sun Devils, keeping them in a game that seemed disastrous early on.
“They take their job serious,” Welch said. “Those guys really want to be here, and those guys really love what they do. I’m proud of them, most definitely.”
While ASU kicked off the second half ahead by four, it didn’t take long for UCF to punch back. After both teams stalled on offense, Harvey almost exclusively orchestrated a five-play, 54-yard scoring drive, accounting for 23 yards and a second rushing touchdown on his own.
Harvey struck again in the fourth quarter, punching in a 13-yard touchdown that, at the time, was the go-ahead score. He finished the night with 127 yards and three touchdowns on a game-high 25 carries. But opposite of him, redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jordyn Tyson had almost as dominant of a performance.
Leavitt connected with Tyson seven times on Saturday, accruing 99 yards and two touchdowns — both were go-ahead scores at the time, the second being the game-winning strike. He made several impressive catches, but perhaps his best grab came with under four minutes in the third.
Running along the left sideline, Leavitt tossed up a floater in his direction. With two defenders on him, Tyson high-pointed the football, came down with it and somehow stayed inbounds for a 29-yard completion. Later in the drive, he scored his first touchdown of the night on a nine-yard reception. Throughout the season, Leavitt and Tyson have developed quite a rapport, and Saturday was yet another example of that.
“It’s an unbelievable connection right now,” Dillingham said. “Great job by (Tyson) going to get it. That’s what (Tyson) does, he goes and high points the football as good as anybody I’ve been around. And I mean, (Tyson) has two more years, Sam has three more years. That could be an exciting combo here for the future of Sun Devil football.”
Leavitt got the job done under center on Saturday, throwing for three touchdowns, but it wasn’t his best performance of the season as he finished with only 161 passing yards. ASU was also without senior running back and Heisman candidate Cam Skattebo meaning sophomore running back Kyson Brown and redshirt senior running back DeCarlos Brooks saw an uptick in reps.
Brown was the bell cow against UCF, posting 18 carries compared to Brooks’ three, and racked up 73 yards. It was a solid effort but it was clear ASU was missing Skattebo. Despite all of this, the Sun Devils still found a way to win, a testament to the culture Dillingham has established in just his second year in Tempe.
“We’re building something here,” Welch said. “We’re building something special.”
