Arizona State QB Sam Leavitt carries the day as Sun Devils win

Posted by Admin September 13, 2024 Football

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SAN MARCOS, Texas — Arizona State football coach Kenny Dillingham knew he needed to get more out of his passing game this week than he did last week. The Sun Devils gaudy numbers running the ball against Mississippi State a week ago were sure to make this week’s opponent Texas State crowd the box and dare them to throw.

ASU did what it needed to and beat the Bobcats 31-28 Thursday night at UFCU Stadium. ASU is now 3-0 on the season for the first time since 2019, and it has equaled its win total of last season when it went 3-9.

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Freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt, making his first career road start, ended up with 246 yards passing on a 19-for-30 effort. The biggest beneficiary was sophomore Jordyn Tyson who caught six passes for 120 yards and a touchdown. The Michigan State transfer had a 52-yard scoring pass to Tyson late in the second quarter that proved to be one highlight of the night.

Leavitt was intercepted in the third quarter when he overthrew tight end Markeston Douglas and the ball was picked off by Chris Mills. It was his only turnover in three games this season.

It was a contrast from last week when 346 of the team’s 415 yards came on the ground. This week it was the rushing game not being productive as ASU totaled only 101 rushing yards with Cam Skattebo limited to 62.

The fact that Leavitt rallied the team from a two-touchdown deficit on the road was not a surprise to Dillingham.

“Exactly what I thought,” Dillingham said. “He’s a competitor. He’s an absolute competitor, so when he’s back there I have the utmost confidence because he’s smart and he cares. He competes and he’s passionate. He got whacked, I mean destroyed, rocked. And it was like it never happened. He just popped up like he played strong safety. That’s the mentality of how he plays the game though. When you have a quarterback that plays like that, guys rally behind it. Those guys see him get hit like that and get back up, that energizes people.”

Leavitt’s career best was 258 in the opening game against Wyoming. He was 12 yards short of that Thursday but was ready to face the challenge. He also ran for 40 yards, even accounting for the three sacks. He had a 40-yard run that set the stage for a 2-yard run by Skattebo to tie the game at 28 with 2:17 left in the third quarter.

“It was super fun being in this atmosphere, an away game, just having 30,000 fans here and being able to command the offense, play with the guys I’ve been with since day one. It was a lot of fun,” Leavitt said.

ASU is back on the road next week to open Big 12 play at Texas Tech (1-1).