PASADENA, Calif.--Arizona State, coming off their worst conference loss in program history, needed to go deep into its bag of tricks to go on the road and beat UCLA 17-7. The heavily banged up Sun Devils (3-7, 2-5 Pac-12) had head coach Kenny Dillingham, who was looking to combat the injuries he had at quarterback, to have his starting running back Cam Skattebo and starting tight end Jalin Conyers line up at signal callers at various point of the contest.
The 2023 football campaign has been, in simple terms, brutal in the injury department, creating a high degree of uncertainty, especially in the quarterback room. After two games, the original starter, Jaden Rashada, reaggravated a high school injury and has been sidelined ever since. Notre Dame transfer Drew Pyne, who was already bouncing back from a fall camp injury, would get knocked out again against USC in week four and has yet to see the field from that point on. Last week against Utah, on the third play of the game for the ASU offense, Trenton Bourguet injured his ankle and was sidelined for the rest of the contest. BYU transfer quarterback Jacob Conover came in for relief but never created the offensive spark needed. As another stout Pac-12 defense awaited in Pasadena, Dillingham’s creativity would be tested again to avoid the Bruins’ defensive front.
“Tuesday, I watched those fire-breathing dragons (UCLA EDGES) on the D-line again and said, ‘holy cow,’” said Dillingham. “Man, do we really want to play 70 snaps with these guys and try to kill our quarterback? The answer was ‘no.’”
ASU would receive the opening kickoff, and it was not Bourguet heading the first series it was Conyers. In the past, the Sun Devil tight end has raved about his time playing quarterback at Gruver, Tex. high school but has also admitted his quarterback days might be behind him. Dillingham would set the challenge for Conyers to relieve his days at that position in a time when his team needed to jump start an offense that scored just 3 points the week befoe.
“We challenged Jalin early in the year,” said Dillingham. “He came back the last two weeks, and he had one of the best run blocking for any tight end in the nation...what does that show? Your best players are starting to believe in what’s necessary to win.”
Conyers was integral to the necessities tonight.
Throughout the game and roughly ten times, starting with the first play from scrimmage, Conyers would come out in shotgun formation just like in high school. In most situations throughout the night, Conyers found himself specializing in the readoption. Conyers, reading the infamous UCLA edges, deciding to either hand off the ball to Skattebo or Kyson Brown. Although he only ended with 14 yards rushing on six attempts, Conyers did have a big first down on a third down in the first quarter. Conyers also never took a loss rushing as in the second quarter, Conyers also set up a very nice second-and-short.
Conyers’ arm would also be tested a bit, as he had two attempts in the game. Both attempts would be completed for short completions, but any sort of success under the circumstances would play in Dillingham’s favor. Conyers found Skattebo once and wide receiver Elijhah Badger another,time keeping the UCLA defense on their toes.
“He went out there, he executed. He did it right”, Dillingham noted. “The only play he didn’t execute, I called wrong, so 100% my fault.”
Skattebo has been nothing short of being the ASU “Swiss army knife” has punted, rushed, and passed for the Sun Devils already and would be back at it again against UCLA. This is something Skattebo looks forward to as he executed multiple duties all week at practice.
“It was awesome,” stated Skattebo. “I wouldn’t say it (gameplan) was unorthodox to us because we ran it all week. We perfected it as much as we could in five days…guys probably thought it was silly we were doing that all week, but is it silly now?”
In a rushing aspect, Skattebo would take a direct snap and rush six times in the game, tallying 20 rushing yards from that formation. Sun Devil fans have come to know this set as the “Skatcat” formation, what was once called the “Sparky” formation.
Other than this alignment, Skattebo added another 41 yards rushing, with the pinnacle of the rushing game being the 17-yard touchdown run, putting the game away for ASU late in the fourth quarter.
Skattebo was also targeted seven times throughout the game as the ASU offense generally eluded the UCLA pass rush. Skattebo would tally three receptions for seven yards, continuing the trend of attempting to keep the Bruin defense off balance. Off balance, they were on Skattebo’s lone completion of the night, a touchdown. Skattebo and Badger exercised their Sacramento connection late in the third quarter for a 25-yard dart over the middle for a touchdown. Badger mentioned that this connection practiced all week would come to fruition.
“I just seen Skat roll out,” Badger said. “Laser a ball, I don’t know how he got it there, but he got it there…He (Skattebo) was telling me all week because he threw it in practice before, ‘I’m coming to you,’ so I had a clue.”
Skattebo was responsible for both ASU touchdowns in some way as the Sun Devils came out on top. The usage of both usual skill position players will be the epitome of the road trip win as Dillingham used what he had to his advantage. Dillingham has preached all season that players need to be put in a position to win; Conyers and Skattebo’s usage and response leave the testament of players exercising their ability to do their part striving for success.
Dillingham said, “Kudos to the players for believing in something that’s unique and goofy, and not just saying ‘oh coach doesn’t think we can win’ but saying ‘we believe in what they’re doing’ and going to execute.”
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