ATLANTA – Texas may be the best football program in the country when the 2024 season ends. But Arizona State already has the title of Most Fun, whatever the scoreboard says. And Cam Skattebo of the Day Devils may force another 2024 Heisman vote.
Texas won the Peach Bowl on Wednesday afternoon in an upset 39-31 double-overtime victory, and now advances to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas to face the winner of the Rose Bowl. Meanwhile, Arizona State capped one of the greatest seasons in recent college football history, wrecked the hell out of the Longhorns, and created a true hero along the way.
Skattebo, who finished fifth in this year’s Heisman polls, will live in Texas’ nightmares after Wednesday, a reminder that records, resumes, history and pedigrees mean nothing in the throes of controversy.
The Sun Devils were 13 ½ underdogs, and at first, it seemed like a generous line. The Longhorns trailed the Sun Devils by 14 points in just over a minute in the first quarter. Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers threw just two touchdown passes – a 54-yarder to Matthew Golden and a 23-yarder to DeAndre Moore Jr. – and Texas jumped out to a 7-3 lead less than seven minutes into the game.
One Arizona State three-and-out later, Texas’ Silas Bolden returned the punt 75 yards for a touchdown. The score stood at 14-3, and the game looked like it would be the fifth straight College Football Playoff.
However, in the next two and a half episodes, some strange problems arose. Arizona State held the ball nearly three times more than Texas, 32:49 to 12:11 to three. But the Sun Devils couldn’t close the deal. On five straight drives, Arizona State drove inside the Texas 40 — three of them in the red zone — and came out with just three points. But at the same time, the Sun Devils were harassing the hell out of the Longhorns, making Texas’ short time on the field miserable. An Arizona State drive that stalled at the Texas 2 led directly to a safety for the Longhorns, which would prove crucial soon.
Then came the fourth quarter, when all hell – and Cam Skattebo – broke loose. First, Ewers, who struggled after that first drive, led Texas on a pivotal 13-play, 76-yard touchdown drive to go up 24-8 and the game was clearly over. no longer exists.
Skattebo had other ideas. He threw — yes, threw — a 42-yard touchdown pass to Malik McClain, and Arizona State converted the two-point conversion to close the gap to 24-16. Two plays later, Arizona State’s Javan Robinson intercepted Ewers. Skattebo made Texas pay, torching the Longhorns on the next play for 62 yards, and soon after, hit both and a two-point conversion.
Texas made a big move, driving 35 yards before fumbling, and Bert Auburn’s 48-yard field goal attempt flew wide, tying the score at 24-24 with 1:39 left. . Arizona State’s next drive stalled at midfield on a controversial unexpected call.
Ewers took over at the Texas 20 with 57 seconds left in the fourth. With the game in his hands, Ewers calmly led the Longhorns to the Arizona State 21 to set up a 39-yard game-winning field goal with just two seconds left. Auburn’s kick was just long enough, but it went wide left to set up overtime.
Arizona State got the ball first in overtime, and quarterback Sam Leavitt nearly connected with McClain for a long touchdown. Arizona State picked it up on fourth-and-1, and Leavitt kept the ball from slipping away for the conversion. Later, facing third-and-14, he scrambled 16 yards to set up a first-and-goal at the Texas 23. You know what happened next… Skattebo stepped in for of a touchdown to put Arizona State 31-24.
On Texas’ first drive, after trailing 3-0, the Longhorns struggled to move the ball, and soon faced fourth-and-8 — which turned into fourth-and-13 after a penalty — for of the game. . But Golden got behind Arizona State’s defense, and Ewers found him for an all-or-nothing 28-yard touchdown to force a second overtime.
This time, Texas did not mess up. Ewers found Gunnar Helm for a 25-yard touchdown on the first play of the second overtime, and then found Gold again for a successful two-point conversion to go up 39-31.
Skattebo caught a short pass to the Texas 12 on the first play of Arizona State’s second game. But Leavitt’s final pass of the day was intercepted by Texas’ Andrew Mukuba, and Arizona State’s dream season died short of the finish line.
The two programs took very different paths to Atlanta. Before the Peach Bowl, Texas and Arizona State had met only once in history: 2007, when the Longhorn team led by Colt McCoy knocked off the Sun Devils, 52-34.
This year, Texas began the season as one of the top programs in the nation, while Arizona State was projected to finish at the bottom of the Big 12. Texas returned a pair of quarterbacks marquee, Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning, and easy SEC. The schedule helped ease the Longhorns’ transition to their new conference. Battles against Georgia in the regular season and the SEC tournament pushed Texas into the 5th slot, where the Longhorns easily dealt with 12th-seeded Clemson in the first round of the playoffs.
On the other side of the preseason picks, Kenny Dillingham’s 2024 Sun Devils were nothing if not an opportunity, both on the field and in the transfer window. Anchored by thunderous running back Cam Skattebo, Arizona State threw the most disorganized, disorganized offense in the Big 12, and often came out ahead. The Sun Devils won the Big 12 conference championship and entered the College Football Playoff at 11-2.
Clemson’s upset win in the ACC tournament opened the door for Arizona State to clinch a first-round berth despite being ranked 12th in the CFP standings. The Peach Bowl was designated as the “home” site of the ACC champion, but when low-ranked Clemson won the ACC bid, Arizona State entered the area… the game.
Maybe it was the distance, or maybe it was the fact that Texas could play three games in Atlanta in six weeks — including the SEC and national championships — but attending the game it was less than capacity. Entry prices dropped to less than $14 in the first hours of launch. It’s a problem college football’s powerhouses will need to solve in the coming seasons.
Texas will return home for the next round, meeting the winner of the Oregon-Ohio State Rose Bowl in Dallas on Jan. 10. What will the Longhorns have learned then from their brush with oblivion? It’s an open question, and one Texas will need to answer very quickly if it wants to continue in the playoffs.
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