Dec 7, 2024; Arlington, TX, USA; Iowa State Cyclones head coach Matt Campbell motions to the referees during the second half against the Arizona State Sun Devils at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
ARLINGTON, Texas — Missed tackles. Costly turnovers. A lack of attention to detail.
No. 16 Iowa State’s myriad miscues culminated to form the driving narrative of Saturday’s 45-19 loss to No. 15 Arizona State in the Big 12 championship game at AT&T Stadium — but the Cyclones didn’t simply lose the game.
The picked-to-finish-last in the league Sun Devils (11-2) flexed their muscles and won it.
“They executed with high precision,” said ISU head coach Matt Campbell, who led ISU (10-3) to its first 10-win season with a chance to get to 11 looming in a yet-to-be-determined bowl game. “Hat’s off to them.”
Likely All-American tailback Cam Skattebo rushed for 170 yards and two touchdowns and also caught a 33-yard touchdown pass, and ISU (10-3) had no answer for his wide-ranging talents. His redshirt freshman quarterback, Sam Leavitt, rushed for 33 yards and threw three touchdown passes. Arizona State’s defense forced three turnovers to start the second half, which cemented its first Big 12 title in its first season in the conference.
In essence, the Sun Devils executed near-flawlessly in all three phases, and the Cyclones stumbled across the board.
“It just shows what we can be,” said Arizona State head coach Kenny DIllingham, whose team secured its first-ever berth in the expanded College Football Playoff. “With the right direction, with the right players who are committed to the program and committed to work, I think you can achieve anything here.I’ve always thought that. People have always said this place is a sleeping giant. Well, you’re not a sleeping giant if you never wake up. You’re a dead giant, right?”
Fair enough.
The Sun Devils’ long shot hopes of not only getting into the playoff, but contending for a national championships are fully alive. ISU’s, of course, have been eliminated, but a likely warm-weather bowl destination still beckons — whether it’s the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, or the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando. There’s one last guaranteed game remaining for the Cyclones’ star-studded senior class that includes captains such as safety Beau Freyler, defensive tackle J.R. Singleton and wide receiver Jaylin Noel.
“The courage and toughness that they have shown over the course of the last two years is like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Campbell said.
Dillingham feels the same way about his “player-led” program that went 3-9 last season in his first year at the helm.
“Those guys believed in the vision, though it’s hard to believe when you’re not very good and you’re 3-9,” Dillingham said. “Not many people believed with that. But we had a sense of belief because the guys next to me, the leaders on our football team create a sense of belief with the work they put in.”
Same goes for the Cyclones, who will play in a bowl game for the seventh time in the past eight seasons.
“I’m going to play in the bowl game,” Noel said when asked if he might opt out of the game. “Just to be able to have that last moment — it will be a defining moment for this program, to win 11 games and finish better than we did last year. … Anybody that doesn’t want to uphold that standard doesn’t need to go for the ride on the last game. But we’ll be ready for it.”
