The weather in Stillwater, Oklahoma was less than friendly on Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium.
That is, unless you were a Sun Devil.
After falling short each of the last two seasons, Arizona State (6-2, 3-2) dominated the second half and coasted to a 42-21 victory over now-conference foe Oklahoma State (3-6, 0-6) after a lengthy weather delay.
Not only did ASU pick up its first road win as a member of the Big 12 Conference, but it secured its first bowl appearance since 2021 when it lost the Las Vegas Bowl to the Wisconsin Badgers.
“You’d be lying if you said it doesn’t feel good,” head coach Kenny Dillingham told reporters postgame. “You know, we never talk about stuff like this, but when you reach a milestone because of putting in the work every day, you’ve got to cherish it, you’ve got to embrace it. Like I told the guys in the locker room, they have changed the culture of this program.”
Redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt, who missed ASU’s last game at Cincinnati with a rib injury, found some easy completions to open the game and push the Sun Devils into opposing territory. With the sun still shining, Leavitt rifled a ball into a tight window creating a 22-yard catch-and-run for redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jordyn Tyson to take a quick 7-0 lead on the opening drive.
Despite entering the game with a rib injury, Leavitt shined in his return, turning in a career-high 304 passing yards and three touchdowns. He also used his legs to extend plays downfield and keep the offense ahead of the chains.
After Leavitt broke three tackles in the pocket and scrambled to set up a fourth down needing just one yard, ASU broke its biggest play of the day. Skattebo found himself all alone in the flat on fourth down, taking the pass from Leavitt 50 yards to the house for the lead.
CAN'T CATCH SKATT 😈
— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) November 2, 2024
📺 @CFBONFOX
📻 https://t.co/0CMltGmpCV pic.twitter.com/i0k1zdjROD
Skattebo dominated the Cowboys’ defense from start to finish, running for 153 yards and a touchdown and adding four catches for 121 yards and two more scores. Skattebo became the first Sun Devil to rush more than 100 yards and receive more than 100 yards since Demario Richard in 2015. A week after Oklahoma State missed 21 tackles in a loss to Baylor, Skattebo forced 10 missed tackles by himself and ran for 85 yards after contact. Skattebo also eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark this season in the win.
“Dude’s a killer and he’s going to do that at the next level too,” Leavitt said of his backfield mate. “He’s a hell of a player and you can’t say much more than that.”
The Cowboys struggled to match ASU’s offensive firepower, as the Sun Devils stifled running lanes for junior running back Ollie Gordon II, and redshirt senior quarterback Alan Bowman threw an interception to redshirt sophomore Javan Robinson near midfield toward the end of the first quarter. However, ASU suffered a big loss on the turnover in redshirt junior defensive tackle Justin Wodtly, who was ejected on the play for spitting on an opponent. Dillingham said he didn’t see the incident occur, but trusted the officials enough to make the call if they saw it happen.
Oklahoma State later tied the game with a 10-play, 75-yard drive capped off by a 2-yard plunge into the endzone by Gordon. Bowman had completions of 13, 17, and 26 yards to set up the score against an ASU defense that held the Cowboy ground game in check.
With just over five minutes remaining in the half, Leavitt connected downfield with redshirt senior wide receiver Jake Smith for a 30-yard gain into Pokes’ territory. ASU proceeded to grind out yards and milk the clock before Skattebo scored his second touchdown of the day from a yard out to take a 21-14 lead into the locker room.
As the teams left the field, the Stillwater sky turned dark as the rain showers and lightning strikes began. The inclement weather turned halftime into a two-hour and 38-minute delay before both teams retook the field. Most of the crowd abandoned the game by the time play started again. Dillingham and the players used the extended break as extra time to prepare.
“I wish I could say I did something magical,” Dillingham joked. “I didn’t talk to [the team] for like an hour and a half. I mean, we just got away from them and said ‘Relax, lay down, take a nap, do what you got to do.’ We got them some food and we got away from them and the coaches kind of put together a second-half game plan based off of the film when we were watching the film in there.”
“We were watching film and talking about adjustments,” Leavitt said. “We were all in the same room, so we just poured things out to each other.”
Both teams traded punts out of the extended break before Dillingham and offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo handed the reins to Skattebo. The senior back handled three straight carries driving the Sun Devils down the field and making a sliding 24-yard grab into the red zone. Sophomore running back Kyson Brown capped the drive with a 7-yard touchdown run, pushing the ASU lead to multiple possessions for the first time.
Skattebo took a swing pass early in the fourth quarter 36 yards to the end zone to end his night and seal the 42-21 win for Arizona State.
SKATTEBOOOOOO
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 3, 2024
Cam Skattebo is just a problem out there for @ASUFootball 🔱🔥 pic.twitter.com/UdBqb3RjuZ
The Sun Devils defense was given new life out of the half. On the Pokes’ first five possessions after halftime, ASU’s defense forced four punts and a turnover on downs. Defensive coordinator Brian Ward suffocated the Cowboys’ offense all day, limiting them to just 3-of-11 on third downs and 270 total yards.
“I think we did a really good job mixing up the calls,” Dillingham said of his defense. “I think coach [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 that we wanted to show. We wanted to show that we can show some max looks and just play some base defense behind it and have to sell out every time on third down.”
Becoming bowl-eligible was a goal for the Sun Devils this season, but now Dillingham believes they can do more.
“This team got bowl-eligible and this team has four games left, right?” Dillingham said. “They’re playing with house money now.”
Arizona State will continue its pursuit of a Big 12 Championship appearance when it returns to Tempe next week for its first home game in nearly a month. Dillingham issued a challenge to Sun Devil fans, saying the team “deserve[s] a sellout next week” against UCF at Mountain America Stadium.
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