TEMPE — Moments after surmounting a 17-point deficit, Arizona State senior defensive end Prince Dorbah took matters into his own hands to solidify the comeback.
Facing a second-and-10 from its own 25-yard line, TCU junior quarterback Josh Hoover faced pressure from ASU’s defensive front. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound signal caller lost the football on a strip-sack by none other than Dorbah, leading the way for senior kicker Jesus Gomez to deliver a go-ahead 23-yard field goal.
ASU leads 27-24 with 1:14 left pic.twitter.com/RmKdI8JClZ
— Wyatt Baumeyer (@wyattB2024) September 27, 2025
“[The sack] is probably the biggest one of my career,” Dorbah said. “We knew all game that we had an advantage up front.”
Dorbah finished Friday night’s 27-24 win with three total sacks, four tackles for a loss and the game-defining fumble; all were key parts of an overall dominant defensive effort.
“We’ve been doing this for so long,” Dorbah said. “Me going out there playing football, going after the quarterback, and just getting him. That’s our main goal out there.”
The Sun Devil defense finished the evening with six sacks and 13 tackles for losses. The linebacker duo of senior Keyshaun Elliott and sophomore Martell Hughes highlighted the unit’s effort, with the latter coming up with the game-sealing interception off of Hoover after Gomez’s split the uprights.
“These past two games, he’s really stood up and made some key plays,” Elliott said of his counterpart Hughes.
Head coach Kenny Dillingham further praised the effort of his young linebacker.
“He goes to work every day,” Dillingham said. “He’s a smart person, he’s mature.”
While watching the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks play on Thursday night with both Elliott and Hughes, Dillingham reinforced Hughes’ importance to the young linebacker, who continues to blossom into an impact player.
“Next year, you are the dude,” Dillingham said to Hughes.
“Even though he’s young, he’s growing up in front of our eyes.”
When the linebacker core wasn’t pressuring the Horned Frog offense, ASU’s front four tormented Hoover – especially when the lights shined the brightest.
Trailing 24-17 in the fourth quarter and inside of 10 minutes to play, the Sun Devils’ defensive line sacked Hoover three times in the span of six plays, resulting in 21 total lost yards and a punt. ASU answered back on the offensive side with an 11-play, 73-yard touchdown drive to tie the game.
The Sun Devils’ quarterback appreciated the defense’s explosive plays.
“Props to the defense for coming up big every single time,” Leavitt said.
In the fourth quarter alone, the Sun Devils sacked Hoover four times and held TCU to a net of negative one yard while forcing two turnovers in the game’s final two minutes. ASU also held the Horned Frogs to just three total yards in the quarter.
For Elliot, the defense’s chemistry remains a key component to its success.
“We’re a group of guys and our relationship with each other is tremendous,” Elliott said. “We rock with each other.”
Despite the defense’s late-game heroics, TCU generated multiple big plays, including moving the ball on third down.
The Horned Frogs converted multiple third downs early on, averaging a down distance of 10.8 yards and starting 3-for-4 on third down conversions.
“We understood what they were (TCU) was trying to do,” Elliott said. “We were winning first downs, early in the game, and they were getting us on second down and third down.”
However, halftime adjustments helped the Maroon and Gold clean things up defensively, with TCU finishing 5-for-12 on third down and failing to move the sticks late in the game.
Although Friday’s victory came with ups and downs on defense, the unit remains confident that it can come through in the critical junctures of a game like it did against the Horned Frogs.
“This is the second year of all playing together,” Elliot said. “We all transferred here, we’ve been in this defense for two years and we have the utmost confidence in each other.”
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