Following Arizona State’s 35-31 win over Kansas in front of a sold-out crowd, Skattebo and Leavitt were sensational in leading their team to a win in the program’s first Big 12 home game. The league announced that Skattebo was the Co-Offensive Player of the Week while Leavitt won Newcomer of the Week. The duo are the second and third Sun Devils to win a weekly conference award in Arizona State’s new league. From 1983-2023, Sun Devils won a total of 150 Pac-10/12 Player of the Week Honors. Click here for a full list of recipients.
Cam Skattebo earns Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week distinction for the second time this season, becoming the first player in the league to accomplish the feat twice in 2024. He shares the award with Texas Tech running back Tahj Brooks. Arizona State took home two of the five possible conference awards in week six. In the Kenny Dillingham era, a Sun Devil has won a conference player of the week award seven times. This is the second time under Dillingham that at least two players from ASU accomplished the feat in the same week.
Conference Players of the Week under Coach Dillingham (7)
Big 12 Era
2024 (3)
Sam Leavitt (Newcomer), Oct. 7
Cam Skattebo (Co-O), Oct. 7
Cam Skattebo (O), Sept. 9
PAC-12 Era
2023 (4)
Dashaun Mallory (DL), Nov. 13
Leif Fautanu (OL), Oct. 30
B.J. Green (DL), Oct. 30
Dario Longhetto, Oct. 30
Cam Skattebo, Co-Offensive Player of the Week
- Senior running back Cam Skattebo came through yet again for the Sun Devils, helping spark the Sun Devil offense in the 35-31 victory over Kansas.
- Arizona State is 4-1 for only the fourth time since 2015 and 3-0 at home for the first time since 2019 thanks in large part to the efforts of Skattebo.
- He was the definition of a workhorse, accounting for 182 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries on Saturday.
- That is an average of over 7.2 yards per rush, as he had six runs of 10+ yards.
- On ASU’s 8-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to take the lead and win the game, Skattebo was a focal point, rushing for 45 yards on three carries.
- He now has 15 total 100+ rushing yard performances in his career, with five coming at Arizona State. Two have come this season, as he now has a pair of performance in which he reached at least 180 rushing yards.
- That makes him one of only three running backs with 180+ rushing yards in two games this season. The others are Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty and Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson.
- Skattebo is now eight among all active FBS running backs in career rushing yards and now has 3,296 in his career.
- He added 19 yards on two receptions in the passing game, allowing him to put together his eighth game with 100+ all-purpose yards since arriving in Tempe (17 total games).
- Arizona State had 313 yards rushing, eclipsing the 300-yard mark on the ground for the second time this season. The last time ASU had two games of 300-yards rushing or more in a season was back in 2012 (vs. NAU & vs. Navy).
- ASU had 50 or more rushing yards in each quarter and saved their most for the fourth quarter, gaining 116 yards on the ground.
- According to PFF, Skattebo was the 8th-highest graded running back in the nation for the week (80.2).
He also forced nine missed tackles on running plays by PFF’s metrics, the third-most nationally. He was also third nationally with nine rushing first downs.
Sam Leavitt, Newcomer of the Week
- Sun Devil quarterback Sam Leavitt stepped up and delivered arguably his best performance so far this season, helping Arizona State move to 3-0 at home for the first time since 2019.
- The redshirt freshman finished with 157 passing yards and four touchdowns while adding a career-best 77 rushing yards on 10 carries.
- The 4 touchdowns were tied for the most of any quarterback this weekend
- ASU is off to only their fourth 4-1 start since 2015 thanks in large part to the efforts of Leavitt. He piloted the offense to 485 yards of total offense and 35 points, with ASU accumulating 28 first downs.
- Leavitt is the first ASU Quarterback to throw four touchdowns in a game since Joey Yellen did so against vs. USC on Nov. 9, 2019.
- His four touchdown passes mark the first time Kansas has allowed four touchdowns through the air in a game since Brock Purdy of Iowa State on Oct. 2, 2021.
- Leavitt was efficient with his decision making, finishing with a quarterback rating of 160.0.
- He accounted for eight total explosive plays, four through the air (15+ yard completions) and four on the ground (10+ yard runs) using his legs.
- Leavitt’s eight rushing first downs were 7th in the country and 2nd among quarterbacks. In fact, 80 percent of his rushes resulted in a first down – the most of any player in the country.
- According to PFF, Leavitt was the highest graded quarterback in the Big 12 and ninth-highest in the FBS.
He received the 15th-highest grade among all offensive players regardless of position (89.4) according to PFF.
Quotables
Kenny Dillingham on Sam Leaviitt’s performance:
“Sam has unbelievable poise. The dude’s mindset is a professional mindset. He prepares every week like a pro. He shows up every day, and he’s getting better and better. There are some things we’d like to have back early in the game, but when the game was on the line, he showed up. And that was his fifth start in college football, so that’s pretty exciting for ASU and that’s pretty exciting for the Valley.”
Kenny Dillingham on Cam Skattebo taking over late:
“We were able to keep Skatt fresh early in the game, but when we got to 11 minutes to go, we knew it was Skatt time. Let’s get him the ball in the fourth quarter. Obviously, we wanted to still mix it up, but this is the time for him to shine. We tried to keep him fresher and it paid off with one of the top-5 longest runs he has had here. He was great down the stretch.”
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Connor Smith
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