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Comeback falls short, but Sun Devils can hold heads high
Peach Bowl loss doesn’t spoil joyous, come-out-of-nowhere ride of ASU football’s 2024 season
Two ASU football players hug after their Peach Bowl loss
ASU senior running back Cam Skattebo (right) and redshirt senior wide receiver Xavier Guillory embrace after losing the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in double overtime against the University of Texas at Austin at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Jan. 1. Photo by Samantha Chow/Arizona State University
By Scott Bordow |
January 01, 2025
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With 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s Peach Bowl, the Arizona State Sun Devils trailed the Texas Longhorns by 16 points.
Reality, it seemed, had set in.
ASU’s unexpected, astonishing, where-did-this-come-from run to the College Football Playoff was about to end decisively at the hands of one of the sport’s blue bloods.
ASU would shake hands, return home and celebrate its accomplishment.
But if there’s anything we’ve learned about the Sun Devils the last six months, it’s this: Tell them they have no chance, and they’ll laugh in your face.
And so, when it was finally over more than an hour later; when Texas finally had escaped with a 39-31 double-overtime win and ASU running back Cam Skattebo, exhausted, was crouched on the field with his helmet off; when quarterback Sam Leavitt appeared at the postgame news conference with tears in his eyes — there was no shame in defeat.
Only pride and admiration.
“We never stopped. We believed in ourselves, and we believed in what we had going,” said Skattebo, who was named the offensive MVP of the Peach Bowl after racking up 284 total yards. “That’s what kept us close.”
It was a bittersweet ending, but in no way did it diminish what Coach Kenny Dillingham and ASU did this season. As someone who covered the Valley sports scene for nearly 40 years, I can confidently say that this was arguably the most surprising, come-out-of-nowhere season I’ve ever seen.
The only comparable: the Arizona Cardinals making the Super Bowl in 2009.
Think about it. Before the season began, most Sun Devil fans would have been satisfied with six wins and a bowl game. Instead, ASU won 11 games, claimed the Big 12 championship in its first year in the conference, reached the College Football Playoff and was one fourth-down stop away from getting to the semifinals.
A photo family affair
While Samantha Chow was busy photographing the Sun Devils for the past few days in Atlanta, her dad, Michael Chow, was capturing the game for The Arizona Republic. Read more about the pair on azcentral.com.
“When a team sticks together and the team focuses on the coach and the coach focuses on the team, that’s what it’s about,” ASU President Michael Crow said. “It’s about the culture of the team.”
Athletics Director Graham Rossini called the season a “foundational moment.”
“I think we’re building the brand of Sun Devil football that reflects the brand of our university,” Rossini said. “We’re cutting edge. We’re going to surprise you in ways that you didn’t expect. We’re resilient. We respond. We have grit.
“That’s my biggest takeaway today. We played in a way that would make ASU proud.”
The 30,000-foot view? This was an ending that truly felt like a beginning.
There have been times in the past when ASU football seemed on the verge of something special. But, for whatever reason, the Sun Devils were not able to capitalize on a season and turn it into long-term success.
This feels different.
For one thing, ASU and Dillingham are that rare species in college football: a perfect match. The Sun Devils needed Dillingham’s jolt of energy, and ASU is where Dillingham wants to be. It’s folly to start comparing Dillingham to Frank Kush, but it’s not outrageous to believe that Dilling
ham will be here for a long time and turn ASU into a top-25 program year in and year out.
