With five minutes to play in the first half, Arizona State redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt was sacked in his own half for an 11-yard loss. The passionate tackle from Texas State’s Ben Bell ignited cheers from the hometown Bobcat supporters, as its team was on in the midst of a 21-point unanswered run dominating the visitors from Tempe.
The following three plays proclaimed the necessary response to newfound hardship. Leavitt ran for 10 yards, resetting the offense. He proceeded to find his primary aerial target, wide receiver Jordyn Tyson, on back-to-back snaps. The first, a 24-yard completion igniting an ounce of momentum; the second, a blazing completion for a 52-yard touchdown that allowed his team to climb back into Thursday’s contest.
Arizona State Football (3-0) toted its energy for another touchdown in the final stages of the first half, with Leavitt running himself for seven yards and equalizing the contest at 21 all going into halftime.
The team’s ability to battle back during its lowest point of the 2024 season thus far propelled them through a heavy weight bout that saw them end victorious 31-28 on the road against Texas State (2-1), marking ASU’s first 3-0 start since 2019.
For head coach Kenny Dillingham, Leavitt's composure throughout the game was not a surprise. He completed 19-30 pass attempts for 246 yards, passing for a touchdown and running for another that lifted the offense over the edge against a fierce opponent.
“He’s a competitor,” Dillingham said about Leavitt. “When he’s back there, I have the utmost confidence. Because he’s smart, he cares, he competes. I think when you have a quarterback that plays like that I think guys rally behind it.”
The Thursday night matchup saw two lead changes and three ties. Although the team from Tempe came out on top, it led for less than 14 minutes all game. Dillingham was elated by his team's resilience during the difficult moments.
“That was awesome, it really was,” Dillingham admitted. “It’s not good for my health, but it's very, very good for our football team. To win that game, to be in a game like that and come out on top. It just gives confidence in those moments for our guys.”
Associated Press’s Player of the Week award winner, Cam Skattebo, didn’t have nearly the same dominant outing he recorded on Saturday, rushing 24 times for just 62 yards. However, the senior made a significant imprint on the game, scoring two touchdowns and rushing for nine yards on third down with less than two minutes to play, icing the ball game and stamping an ASU win.
Skattebo was one of many players who made statement plays in the fourth quarter against TXS. Nickelback Shamari Simmons forced a fumble on versatile running back Ismail Mahdi, which Justin Wodtly recovered. On the following drive safety, Xavion Alford tracked Jordan McCloud’s deep ball and came down with an interception with roughly five minutes to play.
In a tight contest like Thursday, the big moments provide opportunities for the stars to shine at their brightest, and for the Sun Devils, their key players delivered time and time again in the most crucial junctures of the game.
“I thought today we played confident when the game mattered the most,” Dillingham remarked. “[Skattebo], who didn’t get loose all game, got loose. When the game mattered the most, Alford intercepted the ball; when the game mattered the most, the best players on our team made plays, and that’s the sign of a good football team.”
“We made a decision coming out of half we’re going to play a new game,” Alford said. “Ultimately, in the second half, we played our football, our standard is getting turnovers, and in the second half, we came out and played our football. We made changes in ourselves, and we really just looked in the mirror.”
Simmons was utterly dominant in this contest, tallying seven total tackles, including two tackles for loss. After such a strong outing, he felt the team’s battle with adversity paid off in their favor in the latter stages of the game.
“Second half, I feel like we did a great job just creating energy and really just locking in,” Simmons noted. “Every game is really just on us, our preparation, and how we execute the gameplan.”
Alford is one of almost two dozen Sun Devils who call Texas their home state. Playing consecutive games in Texas, with a matchup against Texas Tech next week, and being able to perform in front of friends and family created an extra layer of motivation amongst some of the players.
“Coming home, we brought it,” Alford said. “We got people in the stands, so we wanted to make sure we brought it. It was good to come home and get a win.”
“It was amazing. I just got back in my element,” Tyson said. “I had like 15-plus people here; they all were cheering me on. I know they were excited.”
The #Texas2Tempe connection strategically involved a Thursday kickoff, so Dillingham and his assistant coaches can spend the next couple of days recruiting the state before they head back home.
“We recruit Texas; it's definitely a footprint for us because we play games here,” Dillingham noted. “If you notice our four captains, the leadership council voted for the four Texas leaders on our leadership council to be captains.”
ASU had to fight and claw to earn this victory after playing just five days earlier in Tempe. The combination of a road contest and a short week potentially contributed to early mishaps that dug that first half hole. Yet, now, with time on its side, Dillingham's players can take extra time to recover before starting Big 12 play.
“Now our guys get a little bit of downtime for a couple of days,” Dillingham described. “It’s been a battle the last 12 days, and our guys are tired and beat up. We don’t have a real practice again until Tuesday. Couldn’t be prouder of our guys.”
The Sun Devils have seemingly turned over a new leaf, and the result of having the players buy into an effective and established team culture has naturally contributed to a perfect non-conference slate that can potentially set the team up for a much better season than many pundits have projected for them.
“The relationships on this team are stronger,” Dillingham said. “The want-to on this team is stronger. This team put in a lot of work. I’d say there’s a difference between confidence and cockiness. If you’re cocky, you just think you're going to win. If you’re confident, you are prepared for whatever is ever going to happen. We want to be a confident football team.”
Join your fellow Sun Devil fans on our premium message board, the Devils’ Huddle, run by the longest-tenured Sun Devil sports beat writer, to discuss this article and other ASU football, basketball, and recruiting topics. Not a member yet? Sign up today and get your daily fix of Sun Devil news!
