The Sun Devils had been fighting from behind for most of the night. ASU could’ve easily given up as it trailed by three with only 1:48 left in the fourth quarter. No dice.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt trotted back out on the field and within seconds senior Cam Skattebo had already ran for a 39-yard gain. Just six plays later, Leavitt threw a touchdown to redshirt sophomore Jordyn Tyson capping off an eight-play, 75-yard drive with 16 seconds left.
The two-minute drive propelled ASU past Kansas 35-30 in a game that saw six lead changes in the second half.
"We do two minutes all the time in practice, once or twice a week," Leavitt said. "That's something that we practice and Dillingham just said, 'Go fall back in your training.' We did what we did. We had three time-outs and two minutes left, so we had a lot of time."
Kenny Dillingham's group was its own worst enemy Saturday night. Many unenforced errors characterized the team's sloppy, although victorious performance. The offense gave away the ball twice, both of which were preventable turnovers. The defense had two breakdowns, one in coverage and one in the run game, that resulted in touchdowns for the Jayhawks.
Kansas even blocked a field goal. To put the cherry on top, the ASU defense also committed four penalties on long third-down tries that kept Jayhawk drives alive.
"We played an ugly game, but we played so hard," Dillingham said. "We played with passion. We made the plays in the fourth quarter."
The resilient effort from ASU may be best personified by Tyson, who was responsible for two turnovers in the first half and atoned for his mistakes with two second-half touchdowns.
"God got me through this whole process," Tyson said. "I've been through the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, by far. I had never really been through adversity, but God knew he had to save me to help me fight back through adversity today."
The energetic ASU family weekend crowd may have given the Sun Devils extra motivation. 54,369 fans packed into Mountain America Stadium for ASU's first sellout of the 2024 season. Tyson said he believes a packed home crowd can be the difference between wins and losses.
"It was definitely rocking tonight," redshirt junior Xavion Alford said. "Like I said, they don't know how much of a difference they make here. The environment was a great college football environment."
Leavitt and Skattebo led the high-scoring offensive effort on the ground. Leavitt gained 77 rushing yards, averaging 7.7 yards per carry. Skattebo gained 186 rushing yards and scored a touchdown on 25 carries.
Despite all the differing factors that ultimately led to the eventual victory, Dillingham remained steadfast in what was at the heart of ASU's effort — Leavitt.
"Sam has unbelievable poise," Dillingham said. "The dude's mindset is a professional mindset. He prepares every week like a pro. He shows up every day, and he's getting better and better and better and better."
Edited by Jack Barron, Sophia Braccio and Natalia Jarrett.
Reach the reporter at jwkartso@asu.edu and follow @kartsonis3 on X.
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Jack is a sophomore studying sports journalism. This is his second semester with The State Press. He has also worked at other student journalism organizations.
