With just over nine minutes left in the game, Arizona State trailed UCF 31-28. Redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt led a Sun Devil offense missing superstar running back Cam Skattebo down the field with a methodical four-and-a-half-minute drive to take a 35-31 lead, ultimately winning the game for the Devils.
The now 7-2 Sun Devils have mastered what head coach Kenny Dillingham calls the “middle eight,” a period between the four-minute mark of the second quarter and the first four minutes of the second half. Without two touchdowns in nine seconds to end the first half, Dillingham believed the post-game press conference might be more somber.
“Plus-14, game-changing for us,” he said. “We shouldn’t have won that game, but guess what? Good teams find a way … and we found a way.”
First, Leavitt capped off a drive with a nice throw to redshirt junior tight end Chamon Metayer, one of his favorite red zone targets, to make the score 17-14 with the Sun Devils getting the ball at the half. After a difficult first half moving the ball and possessing it (UCF controlled the ball for nearly 20 minutes of the first half), it felt like the momentum was beginning to swing.
Then, junior cornerback LT Welch entered the picture. A bizarre mental lapse by UCF’s kickoff returner saw the Knights downed inside their own half-yard line. Despite having redshirt freshman backup quarterback Dylan Rizk as their No. 1 quarterback option, the Knights opted to pass in the shotgun from their own endzone. Welch took advantage of that mistake.
“To be honest with you, I was running with my man in motion and as soon as I looked up, I saw the ball and said ‘Okay, okay,’” Welch said. “That’s my first-ever pick-six, so I’m glad I could do it for the team.”
GIMMMME THAT 😈
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Instead of trailing by three at the half, Welch’s clutch pick-six meant the Sun Devils led 21-17 when the first half clock hit zero.
The second half resembled a heavyweight boxing match, filled with hard uppercuts and counter-jabs by both teams.
UCF’s bell-cow running back, fifth-year RJ Harvey took over in the second half, scoring two of his three touchdowns. He finished with 128 rushing yards. But he wasn’t enough.
The combination of Leavitt and redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jordyn Tyson stole the show in the second half. Trailing 24-21 after one of Harvey’s punishing drives helped the Knights regain the lead in the third quarter, Tyson amassed 38 receiving yards including a fade to the right side of the end zone which he hauled in for a touchdown and the lead.
RUN THE FADE 🏈 @S_leav10 🤝 @tyson_jordyn
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“(Leavitt is) an NFL quarterback and I’m going to be in a front-row seat watching him grow step-by-step,” Tyson said. “I’m just out there trying to do my best for him.”
UCF took the lead one last time before Leavitt and Tyson combined for one more impressive moment to cap off the methodical drive by the Sun Devils. From the UCF 13, Leavitt found Tyson quickly after the snap in front of his man to take the lead for the last time.
The Sun Devil defense stepped up on the ensuing UCF drive and stopped the Knights on a 4th-and-short, something UCF dominated the rest of the night.
In a game that included a pick-six, a blocked punt returned for a touchdown and a quarterback running around in his backfield avoiding tackles like a whirling dervish, Dillingham was disappointed in himself.
“I thought I did a bad job getting our guys to come out with an edge,” he said. “I can’t go play but what I can do is I can try to create some passion.”
In the absence of his security blanket in Skattebo, Leavitt got to play hero for a night. He finished with 161 yards passing and three touchdowns and added 22 yards on the ground.
In a conference filled with “upsets” every week and constant chaos, the Sun Devils have quietly climbed to 4-2 in conference play (7-2 overall). They join a logjam of teams at 4-2 in the conference essentially tied for third place. Despite its 4-6 record (2-5 Big 12), UCF poised a threat on Saturday to a Sun Devil team suddenly facing very real pressure in a crowded race to have a chance to play in a conference championship game. Dillingham and his team didn’t blink.
The Devils now prepare for what could be a ranked matchup with No. 22 Kansas State in Manhattan, Kansas, next Saturday night.
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