STILLWATER, Okla. - During a cagey first half in hostile territory, redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt and the offense found themselves in a demanding position. In a tied game facing a third-and-nine situation as the roaring Oklahoma State fanatics jeered them, the defensive line brought immense pressure, collapsing the Sun Devils' offensive line and forcing Leavitt into scramble mode.
After missing the previous game with a rib injury, the evident decision Leavitt would’ve been to throw it away and avoid the contact. However, Leavitt swiveled and exploded for eight yards, putting Arizona State (6-2, 3-2 Big 12) in a manageable fouth-and-one from midfield. The aggressive nature of coach Kenny Dillingham, who led the Pac-12 conference in fourth down attempts in 2022 as Oregon's offensive coordinator, opted to go for it; Leavitt placed the ball in stride for running back Cam Skattebo to turn upfield with no one to stop him and find the endzone for the touchdown regaining ASU’s first-half advantage 14-7, as the vital moments of the matchup with Oklahoma State (3-6, 0-6) came and went, it became apparent whoever played efficiently on third and fourth downs would establish the advantage.
“One of the craziest little scrambles, and I've coached some athletic quarterbacks in my career,” Dillingham said. “That was one of the most impressive plays I've seen. Breaking three tackles, and he didn't get a first down, but he got us to a situation to go for a fourth down, which we were good at tonight, which was a positive.”
Leavitt and the Sun Devils would finish the game by converting 10 of 16 third-down attempts and perfecting 2-2 on their fourth-down attempts. On every one of their scoring drives, the offense found ways to move the chains on third downs.
“I felt like we did a good job, just overall communication with the offensive line,” Leavitt explained in regards to converting on third downs, "and then talked through all the different looks that we'd have throughout the week.”
Stillwater was a far cry from the offense's previous road games in the Big 12 in terms of third and fourth-down conversions. Against Texas Tech, the Sun Devils were only 5-14 on third downs and 0-3 on fourth downs. The numbers don’t fare any better from their output in the Queen City, converting on 4 of 12 third downs and 0 of 2 on fourth downs against the Bearcats.
Although he didn’t play against Cincinnati, improving from the shortcomings of the second defeat of the season started with intensity for Leavitt, who claimed the team self-proclaimed themselves flat in their performance.
“I obviously wasn't at the game, but the whole team said that we were just low energy going into the week,” Leavitt said. “It Felt like that in practice, too. So that's kind of my emphasis going into practice this week. To get the guys' juice up again.”
A position group that certainly played ‘juiced up’ again was the running back core, rushing for a combined 219 yards and three touchdowns, running backs senior Cam Skattebo and sophomore Kyson Brown dominated both halves in the trenches powering through the Cowboys and making the most of each play. Using a running back by commits approach using both of the backs to open up the offense and make the game easier for each other.
“I told [Kyson Brown] we're gonna get him more touches,” Dillingham said. “15 touches later, two touchdowns, and he finished some runs, like a 200-pound back should. That was the part I was most impressed with. Was we all know he's fast and can make some, you know, explosive plays, but he's also big, and sometimes the bigger, faster guys don't finish runs, you know, they want to be elusive. And the fact that he lowered his shoulder and finished some runs there was awesome to see, especially from a young guy, and especially from a kid, the way he works, man, you want to see guys who put in the work like that succeed.”
Making adjustments from previous failures on both sides of the ball was an integral portion of the program's ‘self-scouting’ operations over the bye week. For both sides of the ball, using the week off to improve execution was clear, and using a straightforward approach to third downs ensured success for the Sun Devils.
“We got simpler on offense. It was fairly simple on third down this week,” Dillingham said. “Then defense, I think we did a really good job mixing up the calls. And I think coach [defensive coordinator Brian Ward] had a good plan, and then I think the guys executed the plan. We didn't have many Max pressures. We just played some coverage this week, and that was a good mix-up from a self-Scout perspective; we wanted to show that we can show some Max Lux and just play some base defense behind it, not have to sell out every time on third down.”
The defensive unit had done an admirable job on third-down stops in road matchups. Against the Bearcats, Ward's players held them to just 3 of 12 on third downs. The Red Raiders put together a commendable third-down ratio, making good on 8 of 19 in their September matchup.
Defensive back Myles Rowser endorsed Ward's game plans, noting the team's struggles early in the season to garner stops on third downs. He charged diligence in practices throughout the campaign that have emphasized growth in that department.
“Well, third down has been real hard for us, especially like the beginning [of the season],” Rowser noted. “So I feel like during practice, third down has been a real big sequence for us. So we just really been really doing keeping 11 in front of us. We kept it simple, and we kept it to what we know. Keep it to where we’re comfortable.
Dillingham conveyed a similar sentiment to Rowser’s, attributing mental hard work and growth to improvements on third and fourth downs. Altering complex footing in third and fourth down bearings and simplifying them to any other snap has drastically improved the team's success in a matter of weeks while minimizing the players' mistakes or overcompensation.
“I think we focused more on just one play at a time,” Dillingham said. “We focused on us, like, let's just go play our game. There was a period of time there where we were getting some penalties that were hurting us, which was uncharacteristic, and I probably pulled our guys back too much. I was like, Hey, we gotta play smarter. You can't get penalties. We don't need to talk, we have a team that's aggressive, like they love hitting they love the game of football. They played with that edge again.”
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