Arizona State 24-14 Kansas State (Nov 16, 2024) Game Summary

MANHATTAN, Kan. — – Sam Leavitt threw for 275 yards and three touchdowns, Jordyn Tyson had 12 catches for 176 yards and two scores, and Arizona State held off No. 1 Kansas State. 20 24-14 Saturday evening in the sun. The Devils’ first trip to their new Big 12 rival.

Cam Skattebo returned from injury to run for 73 yards and the Sun Devils (8-2, 5-2) built a 21-0 halftime lead before Kenny Dillingham’s team held on for a third straight win to stay in the fight for the fight. Big 12 Championship Game.

“Everybody keeps saying, ‘Oh, there’s a reason they’re winning, and it’s not because they’re good,'” Dillingham said. “It must bother you. This is the first week I’m really diving into it. I pulled things out to show the guys for motivation this week. We really dived into people not believing in the football team and not believing in the guys , and I think they responded.”

Avery Johnson threw for 258 yards with two interceptions and a touchdown run for Kansas State (7-3, 4-3, No. 16 CFP), which had been 4-0 at home this season and 15-3 during the last three. DJ Giddens ran for 133 yards and Joe Jackson had a TD run.

“I told the guys, ‘I’m going to take ownership of this on my own,”’ Kansas State coach Chris Klieman said. “The whole program is on me. I didn’t do a good enough job with the game plan. I didn’t do a good enough job with the players.”

The sputtering Wildcats, who turned the ball over three times and failed to score on two field-goal attempts, certainly didn’t look like a conference title contender who had last week off to prepare for the Sun Devils.

Johnson was picked off on the second play of the game and Arizona State marched 49 yards with Leavitt hitting Tyson for the touchdown. On the next series, Dylan Edwards and Giddens were stuffed on consecutive carries, giving the Sun Devils the ball back on downs. And on the Wildcats’ third series, Jayce Brown fumbled the ball away after a catch.

“Props to our defense for creating takeaways and putting us in a situation where we didn’t have to go the length of the field,” Leavitt said. “We just executed on offense.”

In fact, Arizona State took advantage of all the mistakes. Leavitt found Tyson a second time from 30 yards out for a 14-0 lead, then hit a wide-open Chamon Metayer from 16 yards out to make it 21-0 early in the second quarter.

“Momentum is a real thing,” Sun Devils defensive back Xavier Alford said. “We wanted to come in here and make it our place.”

The cacophony of mistakes continued for the Wildcats: They had a 67-yard TD reception negated when offensive lineman Andrew Leingang blocked too far down the field. Johnson overthrew a wide-open Ty Bowman on a would-be 69-yard connection. And with first-and-goal at the Arizona State 5, they not only managed to get into the end zone, but fumbled away from the field-goal snap.

Arizona State went into halftime serenaded by the sound of Kansas State fans booing their own team.

The Wildcats tried to rally late, starting with Johnson’s touchdown with 2:51 left in the third quarter. They got the ball back and needed just 1:19 to score again and get the 2-point conversion. But the Sun Devils picked up a pair of first downs on their next possession and ran enough clock to make Kansas State’s comeback bid all but impossible.

The Wildcats muffed a final field-goal attempt with just over 2 minutes left that would have made it a one-possession game.

“We’re big on clock management. We’re big on winning the details of the game,” Dillingham said over the pounding music of the visiting locker room. “When you talk about winning against good football teams, you’ve got to talk about winning the margins.”

Takeaway

Arizona State was picked to finish last in the Big 12, but is very much alive in the title hunt. The Sun Devils face seventh-ranked BYU, which along with the no. 18 Colorado is ahead of them in the standings, at home next week.

Kansas State’s Big 12 title chances essentially ended thanks to two straight dismal halves. The Wildcats allowed Houston to rally from a 19-10 second-half deficit in a 24-19 loss, then dug a first-half hole Saturday night that was far too deep.

Next

Arizona State has a showdown with BYU on Saturday.

Kansas State plays its home finale Saturday against Cincinnati.

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