ARLINGTON, Texas — In Saturday’s final minutes, Arizona State took possession and coach Kenny Dillingham finally relaxed. He turned and embraced safety Myles Rowser. He laughed with an assistant coach and made his way down the sideline at AT&T Stadium.
The No. 15 Sun Devils are Big 12 champions. Repeat that statement for as long as needed. A team entering a new conference and predicted to finish last is headed to the College Football Playoff. After Saturday’s 45-19 win over No. 16 Iowa State, the Sun Devils (11-2) may even deserve a first-round bye in the expanded 12-team format.
That’s the argument athletic director Graham Rossini made on the field, as the Sun Devils lifted the conference trophy and confetti filled the air around them.
“We want to stay at home. We want to be in the Fiesta Bowl,’’ Rossini said of a quarterfinal game that will be held in Glendale, Ariz. “We won the Big 12. That’s got to amount to something in this landscape.”
Cam Skattebo introduced himself to fans in the Central and Eastern time zones — “Is it Skatt-e-BOO or Skatt-e-BOW?” — rushing for 170 yards and accounting for three touchdowns. (It’s the former.) Sam Leavitt threw for 219 yards and three touchdowns. After a shaky start, the defense settled down and stifled the Cyclones.
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“The defense gets three takeaways to start the second half on their side of the field,’’ Dillingham said. “Are you kidding me? It’s kind of like a scene from a movie.”
A sign of confidence: On fourth-and-1 from the ASU 34 in the first quarter, the Sun Devils went for it. When Dillingham heard coordinator Marcus Arroyo’s play call, even he was surprised. His first reaction was, “Oh, crap.” He resisted the urge to yell, “Just hand it to Skatt! Just hand it to Skatt!”
With Arizona State missing star receiver Jordyn Tyson, Leavitt hit Melquan Stovall for 63 yards, an adrenaline boost that led to a go-ahead touchdown. More importantly, it set the day’s tone.
“Game-changing play right there,” Dillingham said.
It’s been an incredible journey for Arizona State. One that dates to 2020, when the program started to crack, although it would not become visible for months.
A program so exhausted from pandemic restrictions and hassles that it removed itself from bowl consideration — while illegally hosting recruits during the same stretch. A program that failed to develop quarterback Jayden Daniels, who transferred and became the best player in the sport.
A program that slapped a bowl ban on itself to atone for its recruiting sins, getting ahead of the NCAA probation that followed. In 2022 and 2023, the Sun Devils posted back-to-back three-win seasons, their worst two-year stretch since the 1940s.
This is old news, something Arizona State fans don’t care to rehash, but it’s necessary context to understand the steep mountain in which the Sun Devils have hiked to get to the stage on which they stood Saturday.
The reversal came sooner than expected, a surprise within the sport and even the program. Dillingham admitted weeks ago the Sun Devils were ahead of schedule. Running backs coach Shaun Aguano said he and fellow coaches pinched themselves after each important win. As the calendar flipped to November, a time when feel-good stories begin to wilt, the Sun Devils accelerated to an unthinkable level, running off six in a row.
(Writer admission: “Unthinkable” is a terrible word. Everything is thinkable. But this is the rare case in which the adjective actually fits. The sportswriting community is an “I told you so” lot, first-string armchair quarterbacks, yet no one thought this was possible. Maybe next year. Or the year after that. Or for the miserable pessimists, never.)
“Everybody in this building loves each other, and you can see that in our play,” safety Xavion Alford said. “They predicted us to be last in this conference. But I guarantee you nobody in the building thought we were the worst team in this conference. And that’s because we believed in each other.”
Credit Michael Crow, the school president under fire for an outdated approach to big-time athletics and a reluctant acceptance to its changing landscape. Crow took massive local criticism — much of it deserved — during Arizona State’s fall. Yet, had he not finally embraced name, image and likeness and all that comes with it — and the guess here is the concept still makes him uncomfortable — this turnaround may not have happened.
Credit Dillingham, the most entertaining coach in the sport, for activating a Valley that many assumed had lost voltage. Dillingham not only has preached his message at every opportunity, he also has connected with his team in uncommon ways. Receivers coach Hines Ward says his boss stinks at “Madden,” yet “he goes out there and talks trash with all the players and they love it.” Ward’s point: The Sun Devils want to play for him. In a sport of swelling entitlement, this should not go unnoticed.
Credit Skattebo, the wrecking-ball running back who ripped off runs of 28, 47 and 53 yards, boosting his case to be a Heisman Trophy finalist. In August, The Athletic showed Skattebo a newspaper photo of him running the ball in a high school state championship game. He was running outside, yet looking inside. Skattebo was asked: What are you looking at? Skattebo answered: “Somebody to hit.”
On Oct. 11, Arizona State beat No. 16 Utah in Tempe. Students rushed the field that night. It felt like the high point of a rebuilding season, but it was only the first chapter. This story keeps getting better. A come-from-behind win against UCF. A fast start at Kansas State. A jaw-dropping finish against BYU. A beat down of rival Arizona. From one week to the next, a good team became great. A team picked last became conference champs.
“The growth of this team is remarkable,’’ Dillingham said. “I’ve never been part of a team that’s grown this much.”
(Photo of Cam Skattebo: Jerome Miron / Imagn Images)
