ASU’s magical season ends in double overtime loss to Texas in Peach Bowl
ATLANTA (AZFamily) -- Ignored. Overlooked. Counted out.
All season, Arizona State has played the role of the underdog. Even after capturing the Big 12 Conference title and earning a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff, they entered Wednesday’s Peach Bowl as a two-touchdown underdog to Texas.
Those notions seemed to hold truth as ASU went into halftime trailing 17-3. But a frenetic fourth-quarter comeback sent the game to overtime. Despite a heart-wrenching 39-31 loss in double overtime, the Sun Devils can be called something else.
Validated.
“I don’t think any person questions if we belonged on the field,” said ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham.
Trailing 24-8 midway through the fourth quarter, the Sun Devils mounted a furious rally, highlighted by a trick play touchdown pass from running back Cam Skattebo, who later ran in the game-tying touchdown.
“We gave everything we had, and you saw it in that game,” said Skattebo. “We never stopped.”
Each team scored in the opening overtime period to force a second overtime. Texas found the endzone, but ASU’s upset bid ended with an interception.
The loss ends the Sun Devils' magical season, but with the core of the team returning, the future is bright in Tempe.
“I’m fired up that we can continue to build this thing," said Dillingham.
The Activation
“Golly, that one sucks.” - Kenny Dillingham
The Game Flow
A nice run by Cam Skattebo opened the game for the Sun Devils, but the Texas defense soon forced a punt. Fortunately for ASU, the Longhorns were called for a running into the kicker penalty, continuing the drive for the Sun Devils. Aided by a Texas facemask penalty, ASU drove into Longhorn territory and came away with a 3-0 lead thanks to a 40-yard field goal by Carston Kieffer.
Texas didn’t take long to answer. Quinn Ewers found Matthew Golden over the middle for 54 yards on their first play, and on the next snap, Ewers found DeAndre Moore Jr. for a 23-yard score.
Disaster then followed for Arizona State. After Texas forced a three-and-out, Silas Bolden returned Kanyon Floyd’s punt 75 yards for a touchdown to extend the Longhorn lead to 14-3.
Another fast three-and-out for ASU followed, although this time, they kept Bolden from the endzone. A sack by Prince Dorbah helped the Sun Devil defense get its first stop of the day.
Thanks to some kep completion by Sam Leavitt, the Sun Devils drove inside the Texas 25. But a fourth-and-2 run by Skattebo was stuffed, turning the ball back over to Texas.
A pass interference call on ASU’s Myles Rowser and a well-executed screen pass got Texas deep into Sun Devil territory. A pass breakup by Xavion Alford appeared to force Texas into a field goal try, but a Sun Devil defender jumped offsides. The Longhorns then went for, and converted, on the fourth-and-2. It ultimately didn’t prove costly, as ASU’s defense held and forced Texas to a 22-yard field goal and a 17-3 lead.
A sensational 23-yard high-point catch by Troy Omeire converted a key third down for the Sun Devils, who soon drove into Texas territory. But a drop by tight end Chamon Metayer put ASU behind the sticks, and Leavitt was sacked on a fourth-down try.
Late in the half, facing a fourth down deep in their territory, ASU gambled. Dillingham opted for a fake punt, and it worked to perfection, as punter Kanyon Floyd found defensive lineman Blazen Lono-Wong for a gain of 32 yards. But the drive would come up empty, as Kieffer’s field goal try in the waning seconds of the half was blocked.
In the locker room, the Sun Devils were unfazed despite the deficit.
“Then in the locker room at halftime, we took a step back and calmed down, and we understood what we had in the locker room, and we went out there and played ball, you know, our ball,” Skattebo said. “We didn’t play the best ball in the first half, but we came back out and gave ourselves a chance.
ASU’s defense, bolstered by the return of nickelback Shamari Simmons, came out on fire to open the half, notching two sacks of Ewers to start the drive.
The Sun Devils looked to carry that momentum forward. A 17-yard catch by Omeire and a 28-yard run by Leavitt got ASU deep into Texas territory. But a strong goal line stand by the Longhorns, holding back the Sun Devils on four plays after a first-and-goal from the 6-yard line, gave the ball back to Texas.
However, the upside of getting stuffed at the goal line is the opponent is backed up deep, and ASU took advantage. On the first play, Shamari Simmons broke through the line and jarred the ball loose. Although Texas recovered, it was in the endzone for a Sun Devil safety.
On the next drive, ASU rode the legs of Skattebo, who finally broke free for a 33-yard gain. But as ASU closed in on the endzone, they failed to finish yet again, settling for a 36-yard field goal by Kieffer to cut the lead to 17-8 late in the third quarter.
Texas' offense finally got going to open the fourth quarter. A 29-yard pass on a third-and-10 to Golden set up a first-and-goal from ASU’s 9-yard line. Ewers would cap the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run to make it 24-8 Texas.
The clock on ASU’s Cinderella season was about to strike midnight.
Or was it?
The Sun Devils moved down the field, with Skattebo picking up a third-and-10 with a key 15-yard run. A few plays later, with time ticking away and on a fourth down, the Sun Devil dug into their bag of tricks.
Leavitt tossed the ball to Skattebo, who unleashed a downfield pass to Malik McClain, who took it in for a 42-yard touchdown.
“You give (Skattebo) the ball, crazy things happen,” said Dillingham.
The two-point conversion was good on a pass to Xavier Guillory, making it a one-score game with under seven minutes left.
ASU needed a quick stop. Javan Robinson delivered.
On a deep pass from Ewers, Robinson jumped in front of Isaiah Bond and made the interception. On the next play, ASU’s best player came through again.
Skattebo raced downfield on a go route and hauled in a throw from Leavitt, holding onto the ball as Texas defensive back Michael Taaffe ripped Skattebo’s helmet off by the facemask.
“(Skattebo) saw a man earlier in the game, he runs to the side, ‘I gotta win a go bomb,’” said Dillingham. “I was like, ‘I agree,’ and we found a way to get him the go ball, and he makes the play. And that’s just Cam.”
That set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Skattebo.
ASU needed a two-point try, but Leavitt’s throw was intercepted. However, Texas was flagged for holding, and ASU made good on the second chance, with Skattebo running it in to tie the game with five minutes left.
It appeared that the Longhorns would answer back, as they drove into ASU territory as the clock fell under two minutes. But Burt Auburn’s 48-yard field goal went wide right, giving ASU a chance with 1:39 left.
The Sun Devil made it to midfield, where a third-down pass was caught short of the sticks by Melquan Stovall, who took a punishing hit by Taaffe. The play was reviewed for potential targeting, but the officials waved it off, and ASU punted it away.
Texas again looked poised to end the game on a walk-off field goal, but Auburn’s 38-yard field goal bounced off the left upright, and the game went to overtime.
ASU took possession first, and Leavitt delivered two key runs, the first a sneak on fourth-and-1, and the other a 16-yard scramble on third-and-14. That preceded a 3-yard touchdown run by Skattebo to give ASU a 31-24 lead.
Some good defense and a Texas false start penalty soon put the Sun Devils on the brink of victory, with the Longhorns facing a do-or-die fourth-and-13. But a coverage breakdown was exploited by Ewers, who found Golden for a 28-yard score.
The Longhorns found the endzone immediately in double overtime, as Ewers hit Gunner Helm for a 25-yard score. The two-point conversion was good, giving Texas a 39-31 lead.
Leavitt hit Skattebo for a gain of 13 yards on ASU’s first play, but a few plays later on a third down, his pass was picked off by Andrew Mukuba to end the game.
The Critical Moment
The Devils were one play away. One more stop, and they would be heading to the College Football Playoff semifinals.
But ASU came up just a little short in the biggest single play in years.
Dillingham broke down the play and took responsibility for the coverage breakdown.
“We’re in a Cover 0 look. Late in the play clock, (linebacker) Zyrus (Fiaseu) did a phenomenal job checking out recognizing the Cover 0 look, 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 isoed and Cover 0 into a max pro there. I gotta go into that game with an ability to get out of that call. ”
The Offense
What more can be said about Skattebo that hasn’t been said already?
Nearly every week, Skattebo put the team on his back, and in the biggest game in recent program history he delivered. Against one of the nation’s best defenses, he rushed for 143 yards, caught eight passes for 99 yards, and threw a 42-yard touchdown. All while battling a stomach issue in the second half.
“I had a rough first half, and I wasn’t feeling too good,” Skattebo said. “That second half, it was a different ballgame.”
“Puke and rally,” Dillingham quipped.
Overall, ASU put up 510 yards of offense on a Texas defense that entered the day third in the FBS allowing an average of just 262 yards. Notably, ASU racked up 214 yards on the ground.
"Our offensive line in, my opinion, I started to give them better chances to be successful,“ Dillingham said. ”They did an awesome job upfront too in the running game."
But while ASU was able to gain yards, especially in the second half, it falted in the key moments. The redzone was ASU’s primary failure on the day, with scores on only two of their four drives.
“We extended drives. We moved the ball down the field. We out gained them. We just in the low red zone, like I said, I gotta do a better job putting our guys in position to succeed in the low red zone and finish some of those drives,” Dillingham said.
“I just feel like it was red zone stuff,” Leavitt said. “We moved the ball pretty effectively actually, and we just needed to convert in the red zone. I take accountability for a lot of stuff that happened. Just going back, I just want to understand that red zone things happen so fast and you have to be so precise.”
The Defense
Like the offense, the total numbers look great: 375 yards allowed, just five of 13 third-down conversions, and eight tackles for loss.
The run defense, in particular, was fantastic against a potent Longhorn ground attack, limiting them to just 1.8 yards per carry.
“Our defensive line, our defense in general did a phenomenal job,” Dillingham said.
But like the offense, it was in the key moments that the group fell just short, most notably on the fourth-and-13 in overtime. It was one of seven passing plays of over 20 yards allowed by ASU.
“The problem with football is some plays were worth a lot more than others, and the plays that were worth a lot, they made more of them,” Dillingham said.
The Top 3
RB Cam Skattebo: Nothing short of a heroic effort.
S Shamari Simmons: His return to the lineup changed the tenor of the defense.
QB Sam Leavitt: It was tough through the air, but he made several key plays with his legs.
The Next Step
It hurts. They were so close.
“There are no moral victories when the season ends,” Dillingham. “There’s no such thing. This should hurt and be painful. The locker room is dreadful right now, and it should be. If it wasn’t, something would be wrong.
Yet despite the loss, it should not be lost that this was ASU’s ascension year. They are a program coming off consecutive 3-9 seasons. The Sun Devils are still building, and despite being a work-in-progress, they captured a conference title, made a playoff run, and activated the Valley.
“But at the same token, now that this is over, I really am going to challenge our guys to reflect on where it all started, because it really is remarkable,” Dillingham said. “And, like I said, I won’t be able to sleep for a while. But I will reflect immediately, because it’s an incredible season.”
The 2024-2025 Sun Devils will be a team long remembered, as much for their heart and resilience as their big plays on the field.
“We believed in ourselves,” Skattebo said. “We believed in what we had going and undeniable is what this team is about because like you said, heroic, too, heroic. Everybody on this team believes in each other and that’s what kept us close.”
Most of the team will return in 2025. The expectations will be immense for the Sun Devils. They’ve tasted success, and they want more.
The Extra Points
- Skattebo set several ASU records:
- Single-season rushing record: 1,711
- Single-season rushing touchdowns: 21
- Single-season total touchdowns: 24
- Single-season yards from scrimmage: 2,316
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