ATLANTA - Amongst the discourse of collegiate football, narratives typically center around quarterbacks, wide receivers, and other skill players due to the direct impact they contain over the final score. Yet under the lights of Mercedes-Benz Stadium on New Year’s Day, the ebbs and flow at the line of scrimmage became a clear indicator of which side was going to come out on top in the Peach Bowl.
The Wednesday afternoon College Football Playoff quarterfinal clash, which ended with a 39-31 double overtime Texas win over Arizona State, was a thriller that couldn’t have been better scripted if Hollywood writers had gotten their hands on it. The emotional rollercoaster witnessed throughout the fourth quarter and both overtime periods perfectly typified the excitement and passion of collegiate football.
From Arizona State’s perspective, the offensive line faced early struggles as its All-American running back senior Cam Skattebo was contained to just 25 yards rushing in the first quarter. The struggles offensively didn’t end in the rushing department, as redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt was consistently pressured and forced to move outside of the pocket, completing 9-16 passes in the first quarter for just 49 yards, with his longest being just 14 yards Despite going ahead on their first drive, the Sun Devils noticeably struggled to find any consistency on offense, producing just three yards per play.
“I had a bad plan going into it,” ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham admitted “I didn't put them in the best positions to succeed on offense I gotta do a much better job with formations and motions to create some better leverages to get these guys going.”
An obvious answer for ASU’s bumpy start could be the talent of their opposition. Texas entered the Peach Bowl not only as the odds-on favorite to win the national championship but also ranked No.10 in sacks, tied for second most of any Southeastern conference program. The program is composed of NFL-caliber defensive linemen, including top-rated true freshman defensive lineman Colin Simmons. Simmons finished the contest with five tackles, including one sack and a tackle for loss.
For the Sun Devils, however, the players feel as though the difficulties upfront could’ve been attributed to a sluggish start. This narrative was highlighted none better than when Skattebo was seen throwing up on the sidelines midway through the contest, Yet he ultimately felt better, which led to a better performance. This performance earned him the Peach Bowl Offensive MVP honor on a day when he posted 242 yards from scrimmage, 188 of them in the second half and the overtime periods, scoring two touchdowns and throwing for one more.
“I drank too much water too fast,” Skattebo recalled. “I was kind of feeling sloshy and then felt better after. I felt a lot better after throwing up, and that's when it all started. I had a rough first half, and I wasn't feeling too good. That second half, it was a different ballgame.”
Offensively for the Sun Devils, the tide did begin to shift noticeably in the second half. The offense came out with an added level of velocity, Skattebo’s production on the ground augmented, along with Leavitt having more time in the pocket to make better reads for deeper throws. All of these advances were tied to the improvement showcased by the offensive line. Senior offensive lineman Ben Coleman noted that honesty during the halftime discussions called for immediate desperation, which played a significant factor in the second-half turnaround.
“There’s 30 minutes left, it’s do or die,” Coleman said “This is it there is no next game, there is no tomorrow We can guarantee one thing and that in 30 minutes if we don’t perform, we’re going home.”
Despite seemingly being punched in the mouth early and often in the contest, the players stayed true to the team culture that has seen them win 11 games in the 2024 season. Despite having to play with added levels of desperation, their resolve and confidence never wavered, leading to scoring 16 unanswered points in the last 10 minutes of regulation to send the game into extra frames. ASU's 510 yards of total offense was the most Texas had given up all season, as was the Sun Devils' 214 rushing yards.
The defense, which had recorded just one sack in the last three games before today, tripled that figure against Texas and recorded eight tackles for loss, which eclipsed the Longhorns' six such stops. The defensive front did hold a Texas ground attack averaging over 170 yards to just 53 yards rushing, its third-lowest clip of the season, only overshadowed by two games against Georgia, in which the Longhorns earned just 60 yards combined over both fixtures.
ASU forced Texas into a trio of three-and-outs and limited their opponent to only seven points in the second half. Furthermore, the safety they recorded, courtesy of senior nickel back Shamari Simmons, was instrumental in sending the game into overtime.
“We’ve been here before. There's nothing new to us. We played behind before,” Sophomore defensive lineman CJ Fite remarked. “We fight, we know we have that grit to us. We like adversity. We live in moments like this, so that's all they say. We live in moments like this, it ain't over, I always fight.
“At the end of the day, it's football. I mean, most of the people on this team can play at the highest level so it's like all the SEC conferences and all that everybody gets lost in that sauce at the end of the day football is football. I don't think we're outmatched; I think we have a great team They have a great team too and I don’t think it’s anything with the SEC or them being a big time program None of that played a part they just out-executed us.”
Rushing the passer consistently is where ASU struggled to create difficult conditions for Texas Quarterback Quinn Ewers. A classic pocket passer with limited ability to throw on the run or move the chains with his feet, he converted 20-30 passes for 322 yards and three touchdowns. Ewers’ best plays were saved for the overtime period, where Texas scored two touchdowns in successive drives to take the lead and eventually win the contest.
The most iconic play of the Peach Bowl will be chalked up to a fourth-and-13 in the first overtime, as Ewers’ 28-yard touchdown to wide receiver Mathew Golden beat the Sun Devil blitz and prevented an ASU upset In an ambitious attempt to disrupt Ewers in the pocket the call was made for a cover-0 play, meaning an all-out blitz with no additional safeties in the endzone as every player was either in one-on-one coverage or pressuring the line of scrimmage.
Golden took full advantage of that play call, outrunning all defenders and scoring to tie the game and give Texas that proverbial second life, which led them to the eventual quarterfinal win. ASU banked on its ability to collapse the pocket on that fourth-down play, but a Texas offensive line with multiple players projected to be drafted in the first round of the 2025 NFL season displayed its abilities.
“To be honest, it's all on me,” Dillingham noted. “We're in a cover zero look. Late in the play clock, Ewers did a phenomenal job checking out recognizing the cover zero look, and checking into a max pro, and I didn't have the ability to get out of it, and that's on me So, we left our guys isolated and covered zero into a max pro there.
“I gotta go into that game with an ability to get out of that call. And like I said, there's a lot of things that I gotta do better to help our guys to win the football game That's one of the many things that as I reflect I gotta be better because our guys played good enough to win. Our guys battled good enough to win, and this game is 100 percent on me.”
The importance of blocking is ingrained in all aspects of the game, including special teams, which is a sector that is often forgotten when discussing day-to-day nuances. Texas senior wide receiver Silas Bolden used his electrifying speed, and yes, some effective blocking, to utilize the magnificent punt blocking of the Longhorns to score on a 75-yard touchdown that increased their first quarter lead to 11 points in the opening eight minutes of play.
“The punt return killed us early,” Dillingham commented. “That got us behind two scores early, but then from then out, we never really didn't have control of the game. They were playing really good red zone defense. Looking back at it, I didn't put our guys in the best position to succeed too many times, and our guys deserved to win the football game. I didn't do a good enough job for them as their head coach, putting them in a position to win, and I'm going to reflect on that and look at how I can do better to put them in a better position to be successful.”
Adding insult to injury later in the half, the Sun Devils struggled to block on the other side of the coin. After converting on a 39-yard field goal attempt, redshirt freshman kicker Carston Kieffer was given another chance from 36 yards out to slash the halftime, trailing 17-3 with 11 seconds to play. Kieffer’s kick, however, was audaciously blocked at the line of scrimmage by 6-foot-6 defensive lineman Ethan Burke.
In such a narrow contest, every slight advantage or disadvantage poked its head out for all to witness ASU was forced to win the battles at the line of scrimmage if they were to come away from Atlanta as the Peach Bowl Champions Despite falling short in those numerous trench battles, the Sun Devils proved they could compete with a college football blueblood of them in any facet including the battles upfront that usually determine game outcomes.
“100%, I think we earned that respect,” Coleman said. “But to be honest with you, I think the reality is that next season, I think it still will be some disrespect because they want to see it. You guys had your Cinderella story. We'll see if it's still a Cinderella story.”
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