Iowa State Cyclones football head coach Matt Campbell watches from side line against Kansas State during the first quarter in the NCAA football at Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Ames, Iowa. © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
AMES —Iowa State senior Jayden Higgins provided the media with an accurate, but less-than-bold take last week.
The first-time 1,000-yards in a season wide receiver predicted that fellow senior wideout Jaylin Noel would quickly join him in achieving that milestone.
And he did. Noel surpassed the 1,000-yard mark on a nine-yard touchdown catch in the No. 16 Cyclones’ 29-21 regular-season closing win over Kansas State — and will look to add to that total against No. 12 Arizona State in Saturday’s 11 a.m. (ABC) Big 12 title game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
“It was awesome,” said Higgins, who has 1,068 receiving yards this season to Noel’s 1,013. “Like I said, he was gonna join (me). It was great.”
Unlike ISU (10-2), the Sun Devils (10-2) will be without their lone 1,000-plus yard receiver this season. Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham announced Monday that top pass catcher Jordyn Tyson is out indefinitely with an injury sustained in last week’s 49-7 “Territorial Cup” win over intrastate rival Arizona. Tyson caught 75 passes for 1,103 yards and 10 touchdowns this season, so it’s next man up for the Sun Devils as they ascend the conference’s biggest stage in their first season in the league.
“Obviously, you never want to lose a good football player this time of year,” said Cyclone head coach Matt Campbell, who guided his team to its first-ever 10-win season. “But I think good football teams have great players and they’ve certainly got a collection of those guys.”
Expect Arizona State to utilize star tailback Cam Skattebo even more in the passing game, while talented tight end Chamon Metayer likely receives more targets, along with speedy receivers such as Xavier Guillory and Melquan Stovall.
Skattebo’s compiled 1,866 yards rushing and receiving this season and leads the Sun Devils in total touchdowns with 19. Metayer has caught five touchdown passes, and Guillory and Stovall average 17.1 yards and 12.5 yards per catch, respectively.
“And then you’ve got championship-level quarterback play (from Sam Leavitt), and they’ve gotten that,” Campbell said. “I’ve just been so impressed by his ability to control the offense (and) really put the offense in really advantageous positions.”
Leavitt’s completed 180 of 287 passes (62.5 percent) for 2,444 yards, 21 touchdown and five interceptions. He’s thrown 13 touchdowns to just one interception in his team’s last five wins and also has rushed for four scores this season.
“(He’s) excellent, athletic,” ISU defensive coordinator Jon Heacock said. “Similar to the guys we’ve played these last few weeks — actually, probably since (the) Iowa (win).”
Arizona State’s averaged 34.2 points during its current seven-game winning streak and Heacock’s defense led the Big 12 in fewest points allowed at 19.2 per game. So it will be a strength-on-strength situation on Saturday, even though Tyson’s unable to play. And it’s not like the Cyclones haven’t been forced to navigate through several injuries, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Campbell said safety Malik Verdon could return from injury but remains questionable, so ISU’s blend of veterans and youngsters on defense will need to continue building chemistry to help give their team a chance at their first-ever win in a league title game.
“I think it’s probably true in everything,” Heacock said. “I think the standards within the facility, within the units, within a business, within an organization — what are the standards? And if everybody’s trying to live to that standard, then you’re not getting yourself ready to play. You are ready to play.”
Higgins and Noel are similarly ready. They’re the only wide receiver duo in the Big 12 to each eclipse the 1,000-yard mark and Saturday they’ll have another opportunity to thrive together, whether out of the slot, or split wide.
“We just bond on knowing each other’s love for the game,” Noel said. “When you know a person has an equivalent love for the sport that you love, it’s easier to bond. We do talk about our goals and we know that we’ll always reach those goals as long as we stick to them.”
