Second-and-2, star senior running back Cam Skattebo takes the handoff.
He's met in the hole by a University of Arizona linebacker — and what happens next is no surprise.
Skattebo ran over the linebacker and plunged into the end zone for a 3-yard score and his third touchdown.
The Sun Devils ran up the score and led the Wildcats 28-0 midway through the second quarter. That cushion would stay the same, as ASU won 49-7.
The Sun Devils dominated the game and outgained the Wildcats 646-210 in total yards of offense. 284 of those yards came from the ground game for the team. With the regular season finished and the team moving on to the postseason, ASU finished as the 24th-best rushing team in the country, according to an NCAA ranking.
ASU rushed for 2,340 yards this season. Going into the year, the expectation was this running back room would be one of the deeper parts of the team, with Skattebo, sophomore running back Kyson Brown and redshirt sophomore Raleek Brown.
It hasn't rolled that way for the Sun Devils, as Skattebo has rushed for nearly 60% of the total rushing yards the team has achieved with 1,398 on the year.
"I'm doing my best to put in the work because I understand the talent I have and I could play at the next level," Skattebo said. "But if I don't put the work in, it's not going to happen. With (head coach Kenny Dillingham) challenging me and me trying my best to put in all the work, it's all paying off."
Although the other backs have struggled on the season, one back has finally emerged with consistent production in the past month.
At the beginning of the second quarter against the Wildcats, the first play from scrimmage, Kyson Brown received the ball on a jet sweep motion and took it for 27 yards. For the last 15 yards, Brown was dragging defenders in a Skattebo-esque fashion.
In November, Kyson Brown totaled 52 of his 66 carries for the season. With those 52 carries, he's achieved 258 yards on the ground and has caught five passes for 66 yards.
ASU offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo has found ways to give Kyson Brown more opportunities this season. They've found the sweet spot with him lining up in the slot and receiving the ball on jet sweep-like plays.
"We just found more ways to get our guys the ball and get us into spaces that we need to be," he said. "You see me being out at wideout ... just expanding our offense and being more confident in our playcalls."
Kyson Brown has taken every advantage of those new opportunities, and the Territorial Cup was no exception. He averaged 12.5 yards a carry, a feat that shocked Dillingham.
"12.5, that's unbelievable," Dillingham said. "Talk about the offensive line moving people, wide receivers, blocking on the perimeter."
The rushing attack has been the identity of this offense all year. When the passing game wasn't working, like in the Mississippi State game, the team relied on the rushing attack, which helped them secure the win.
Throughout the season, the offense has kept evolving. The team has found ways to get the passing game going. One of those avenues has been an extension of the run game, the screen game. The ASU offense attempted eight screen passes out of 22 pass attempts against UA.
Defenses all year have keyed in on the heavier 12 personnel ASU sets loading up the box with eight or lining up in bear-type fronts. With that response, the defense doesn't have many defenders towards the outside, and that's when ASU will usually throw the ball on a screen to redshirt sophomore receiver Jordyn Tyson or graduate receiver Melquan Stovall, and they'll take it for a big chunk.
This is just one of the many ways the running game has helped this team evolve throughout the season, and Arroyo has focused on ensuring that opponents never know what's coming next, even when the team lines up in a specific formation.
"I don't know if you guys watched," Dillingham said. "Everybody blocks, everybody blocks. I think that's an identity thing."
Edited by Henry Smardo, Abigail Beck and Natalia Jarrett.
Reach the reporter at danielr1102@gmail.com and follow @daniel_rios72 on X.
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Daniel is a senior studying sports journalism. This is his first semester with The State Press. He has also worked at WCSN, OC Riptide, 1550 Sports and AZPreps365.
