Arizona State blows out Iowa State; makes case for playoff bye

ARLINGTON, Texas. — Arizona State football dismantled a 10-win Iowa State team in the Big 12 Championship on Saturday. A game that was one point tied, 10-10, ballooned to a 45-10 game by the start of the fourth quarter. The Sun Devils strolled to a 45-19 victory, cementing themselves as Big 12 Champions in their first year as a member of the conference.

It is Arizona State’s first outright conference championship since 1996.

“It’s surreal,” Arizona State defensive back Xavion Alford said after the game. “I can’t put words on it.”

An Arizona State player celebrates in confetti after winning the Big 12 Championship. (Photo by Truitt Robinson/Sun Devil Daily)

Both teams entered the game needing a win to clinch a spot in the College Football Playoffs. A loss meant a bowl game, likely the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. Under the new format, the top-four ranked conference champions get first-round byes and a top-four seed overall, and the fifth-ranked conference champion clinches a spot in the playoffs, but no seeding guarantees.

On Tuesday the CFP Rankings were released with these projected conference champions. They’re overall ranking is in parentheses.

Big Ten – Oregon (1)

SEC – Texas (2)

ACC – SMU (8)

Mountain West – Boise State (10)

Big 12 – Arizona State (15)

These rankings projected Arizona State to be seeded No. 12 in the playoffs, playing a road game against the No. 5 seed in the first round. One of the more controversial decisions from the CFP committee has been about which team will get the first-round bye: Boise State or the Big 12 Champ (now Arizona State).

On Saturday, the Sun Devils made their case.

Arizona State blows out Iowa State in Big 12 Championship

Arizona State ran all over Iowa State, both literally and on the scoreboard. In the first half alone the Sun Devils had 170 rushing yards, their most in the first half since 2018.

Cam Skattebo carried the load for Arizona State with over 200 total yards, eclipsing the 2,000 yards from scrimmage mark on the season. He is the first player in Arizona State history to do so. Skattebo won Big 12 Most Outstanding Player for his performance.

“Nobody respects the fact that I’m the best running back in the country,” Skattebo said after. “I’m going to stand on that.”

Cam Skattebo warms up prior to the Big 12 Championship Game. (Photo by Truitt Robinson/Sun Devil Daily)

Under center Sam Leavitt threw for 219 yards and three touchdowns, on just 17 attempts, while rushing for a touchdown. Iowa State’s defense had no answer for the prolific duo and they didn’t get help from their offense. After cruising in the first quarter the Iowa State offense was stumped the rest of the game.

It all unraveled for the Cyclones when they had turnovers on three-straight drives to open up the second half. The Sun Devils capitalized, scoring touchdowns off all three, shutting the door on Matt Campbell’s team.

Now, after a victory, Arizona State has guaranteed a spot in the College Football Playoffs, but only time will tell if the committee decides they’re worthy of a bye.

Dillingham voices his opinion

“In the judging last year, they left a team out because of a quarterback, and I think our play, we’re 11-1, with our starting quarterback having beat four ranked teams, having won the Big 12 Championship,” Dillingham said after the game. “So I do think because we’ve made a standard that the quarterback is that valuable, I think there should be a real chance we get a first-round bye.”

Last season the CFP committee came under fire for leaving out an undefeated ACC champ, Florida State. The reason why? The Seminoles’ QB Jordan Travis was sidelined for the remainder of the year with an injury.

The committee’s logic at the time revolved around the idea that FSU with Jordan Travis was a top-four team, but FSU without was not.

This season Arizona State is 0-1 in games without their starting quarterback Sam Leavitt. Using the logic the committee did last season, the Arizona State team the committee is evaluating should be considered 11-1, which Dillingham points out.

This week Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark also pointed out the apparent bias against the Big 12 Conference by the committee.

Big 12 bias?

“The (CFP) committee continues to show time and time again, that they’re paying attention to logos versus resumés,” Yormark said. “And I say logos because they’re concentrating on team logos and conference logos.”

The Big 12 may not be as top-heavy as the other Power 4 conferences, but it does have three 10-win teams. One of those teams, BYU, has a win over SMU. SMU is playing in the ACC Championship.

“This is a really, really deep league,” Dillingham said. “Every week, anybody can beat anybody. That’s why it’s difficult to get through unscathed. You go to real college environments. All of the environments you play on the road are real environments. Our Texas Tech loss on the road was a real environment. (Our) First away Big 12 game. Then we go on the road at Cincinnati’s homecoming without our starting quarterback, which is a real environment. Then you go to Kansas State after they have a bye. That’s a real environment. So I just think the difficulty is not just the teams, but it’s the environments you go into as well, which is why the Big 12 consistently, you know, people lose one or two games in the league because it’s just so competitive.”

Winning streak for Arizona State football

Since the road loss to Cincinnati without Leavitt, Arizona State has been dominant. ASU has outscored opponents 223-to-115 in that stretch, going 6-0.

Arizona State is 11-1 with Sam Leavitt as starting QB this season. (Photo by Truitt Robinson/Sun Devil Daily)

This is not the same team from October.

For now, Dillingham and his crew will wait for the selection show (Sunday, 10 a.m. AZT, ESPN).

“These guys have accomplished things that I don’t know if any team’s ever accomplished,” Dillingham continued. “Being picked 16th out of 16 and winning a championship. We’re 11-1 with this kid to my left (Leavitt). We’re Big 12 champs when he’s on the field, and I think if you were to look at our résumé with Sam Leavitt as our starting quarterback, I think you can look deep and hard to see where we stand with champions, where we stand with conference champions.”

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