ARLINGTON, Texas – Cam Skattebo and Arizona State are on quite a run in their Big 12 debut after being the preseason pick to finish at the bottom of the conference.
Now the Sun Devils will represent their new 16-team league in the 12-team College Football Playoff after a 45-19 win over Iowa State in the Big 12 championship game Saturday.
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The tough-running Skattebo had 170 yards rushing, including a 28-yard gain on the first offensive snap. There were long, tackle-evading runs to open the two drives he ended with short touchdowns, and he later turned a short pass into another score.
“I've got the best seat in the house,” said Sam Leavitt, the freshman quarterback who hands off to Skattebo. “Get ready for a gain of 5 or whatever, and I just see the dude kind of weaving through some traffic ... and busts loose."
Arizona State (11-2, No. 15 CFP), with its 34-year-old head coach Kenny Dillingham, takes a six-game winning streak into the playoff.
The Sun Devils are guaranteed a playoff spot as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions, and are hopeful of being one of the top four for a first-round bye.
Big Ten champion Oregon and SEC champion Georgia are expected to be the top two seeds when the final CFP rankings come out Sunday. Arizona State almost certainly will rank below Mountain West champ Boise State (12-1, No 10), but could be above the Atlantic Coast Conference champ after Clemson (10-3, No. 17) won that title game 34-31 over SMU (11-2, No. 8) on Saturday night.
Before the Big 12 championship game Commissioner Brett Yormark reiterated how he felt, that his league’s champ should have a first-round bye, and certainly not have to open the playoff in a road game.
“Last year, they left a team out because of a quarterback (then-undefeated Florida State). We’re 11-1 with our starting quarterback, having beat four ranked teams and we won the Big 12 championship,” Dillingham said. “We made a standard that the quarterback is that valuable ... I definitely think we should host a game.”
Iowa State (10-3, No. 16 CFP), which already had the first 10-win season in the program’s 133-year history, trailed 24-10 before turnovers in its own territory on its first three drives after halftime. The Sun Devils capitalized with Leavitt throwing touchdowns each time.
“It doesn’t get that much more deflating than that,” Cyclones coach Matt Campbell said. “Their ability to take care of the football and our inability to do that in the third quarter was just paralyzing.”
Xavier Guillory had TD catches of 8 and 21 yards in a 71-second span after the Iowa State turnovers. Skattebo then turned a third-down swing pass into a 33-yard score for a 45-10 lead that he punctuated with one of his Heisman poses.
Skattebo struck the Heisman Trophy pose multiple times during the game, and he wore a Big 12 championship T-shirt afterward.
“Nobody respects the fact that I’m the best running back in the country. And I’m going to stand on that,” he said. “I'm going to keep proving people wrong. And whatever NFL team takes me is going to get a gem.”
His 2,074 yards from scrimmage (1,568 rushing and 506 receiving) are a single-season school record.
Before his 3-yard TD, Skattebo had a 47-yard run when he spun away at the line from defenders, then shrugged off others. He had a 2-yard score in the final minute of the first half after a 53-yard run, again after contact at the line before twisting and turning through chasing Cyclones.
“He’s an ‘A’ player, and he played an ‘A’ game today,” Campbell said. “In these moments, you need your ‘A’ players to play ‘A’ football, and he certainly did it.”
Big plays
Even without injured leading receiver Jordyn Tyson, the Sun Devils had plenty of big plays. Leavitt's first pass was a 22-yarder to Melquan Stovall, who later had a 63-yard catch to convert a fourth-and-1. They had six plays of more than 20 yards, all before halftime.
Iowa State's only such play was Rocco Becht's late 25-yard TD to Jaylin Noel. Becht was 21-of-35 passing for 214 yards. He has TD passes in 17 consecutive games, and his 3-yarder to Carson Hansen on the Cyclones' opening drive gave them their only lead at 7-3.
The takeaway
Arizona State has its first outright conference title since winning the Pac-10 in 1996. After going 3-9 in their final Pac-12 season, the Sun Devils' eight-win improvement is a school record — the previous was five. Arizona State and Indiana (11-1) are the only FBS schools with eight-win improvements over last year.
Iowa State got into November undefeated for the first time since 1938. The Cyclones then lost back-to-back games before winning three in a row to get into their second Big 12 title game. They lost to Oklahoma in the 2020 game.
Up next
Arizona State finds out Sunday who it will play and where to start the playoff.
Iowa State waits for its bowl destination, likely either the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio or the Pop Tarts Bowl in Orlando.
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