The first three quarters didn’t go exactly as planned for redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jordyn Tyson in the Sun Devils’ 35-31 win over the Kansas Jayhawks. After his first reception, Tyson took a big hit and was shaken up after the play. Then, with 2:00 in the first half, Tyson fumbled on the Kansas 36-yard-line.
In the third quarter, redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt found Tyson’s hands on the goal line, but Tyson couldn’t hang on, resulting in an interception.
In the fourth quarter, however, Tyson hauled in a 31-yard touchdown to put the Sun Devils up 28-24. After Kansas scored a touchdown with 2:04 left in the fourth quarter, Leavitt found Tyson again, this time for a game-winning touchdown with 16 seconds remaining.
“I really don’t try to think about it too much – try to get to the next play. And that’s what I did, I feel like, and we responded – everybody,” Tyson said.
Coming off injury last year, Tyson acknowledged that he had never faced such adversity in his career, and he’s thankful for what it taught him. Despite the miscues early in the game, Leavitt never lost trust.
“A couple of plays early in the game there were a couple of mistakes, but why would I ever lose faith?” Leavitt said. “I see the way that he comes to practice every single day, putting in that work, and he keeps killing, so never lost faith in that.”
Tyson’s six catches for 76 yards contributed to the win, and head coach Kenny Dillingham praised his ability to respond after early mistakes and make the big plays down the stretch.
“I gave him a game ball because that’s what the program is about. The program is about the response and talk about a bad beginning of a game,” Dillingham said. “And that fact that he could regather himself, and go execute, and finish with a positive attitude is everything that we’re trying to build here.”
Tyson’s effort overshadows another brilliant performance by senior running back Cam Skattebo. Skattebo finished with 25 carries for 186 yards and one rushing touchdown. Skattebo now has 619 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns through the first five games.
“I think we kept Skatt fresh for the end of the game, which was the goal,” Dillingham said. “We got to 11 minutes left, and I said, ‘Hey, this is Skat time.’”
Skattebo had eight carries in the fourth quarter and 17 in the second half. Skattebo had 72 of his 186 rushing yards in the fourth quarter, including a huge 39-yard run with 2:00 left.
As a team, ASU outran Kansas 313 yards to 151. Leavitt had 77 yards on the ground, six yards more than Kansas’s top running back Devin Neal. On the flip side, Arizona State stopped Kansas’s run game on the first two downs. In the first half, the Jayhawks rushed for 64 yards and struggled to build consistency in the ground game.
Despite the Sun Devils winning their first in-conference game as a part of the Big 12 Conference, it was far from flawless. ASU committed eight penalties, including two targeting penalties.
“Those weren’t violent penalties. Those weren’t stupid penalties. Those just happen through the flow of the game. And it sucks because they’re going to miss the first half of next week,” Dillingham said.
Kansas also finished the game 7-13 on third down. In the early going, the Sun Devils couldn’t get a stop in those scenarios, partly due to penalties, but ASU came up with the clutch stops when needed.
“Third down defense was not good. Once again, that’s an area that we have to improve on,” Dillingham said. “Where we did improve was red zone defense.”
ASU also came up empty on three drives inside Kansas territory. In the second quarter, redshirt sophomore kicker/punter Ian Hershey’s 38-yard try was blocked. The field goal would have cut the Jayhawks’ lead to 14-10. Redshirt freshman Carston Kieffer assumed kicking duties the rest of the way, going 4-4 on PAT attempts.
Both Sun Devil turnovers also came in Kansas territory, leading to points left on the table, something Dillingham hopes to see improved on.
“You can’t get the ball inside the 40-yard-line three times and come out with zero points,” Dillingham said. “Too many times we’re getting past the 40, we’re not getting points on offense.”
Dillingham emphasized after the game that it wasn’t pretty, but the team played hard and found a way to win. His goal since day one was to “Activate the Valley.” In front of a sold-out crowd, the fans provided the necessary push to improve ASU to 4-1 with a huge matchup against Utah Oct. 11.
“[The players] run out of the tunnel, and they dreamt of it being a sold-out crowd and running through all the fans and people cheering, firing up the crowd… it fuels our guys,” Dillingham said. “We’ve got a big one on Friday night so cancel your plans and get back out here to the stadium.”
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