TEMPE – In front of one of the most packed student sections in the program’s history, ASU stormed into Mountain America Stadium on Saturday night and not only did they impress, but they made a statement as the Sun Devils blew out Wyoming 48-7.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Sam Leavitt made his Arizona State (1-0) debut, completing 14-of-22 passes for 258 yards and two touchdowns as well as scrambling eight times for an additional 47 rushing yards. Cam Skattebo ran for 49 yards and one touchdown from 11 carries while Kyson Brown caught a pass from Leavitt for a 68-yard touchdown and finished with 73 yards.
Mesa native and Red Mountain High School product Evan Svoboda had a rough performance in his first game as Wyoming’s starting quarterback, connecting on 6-of-15 passes for 42 yards and was picked off twice. Tyler King tallied 23 receiving yards and D.J. Jones ended up with 43 rushing yards.
ASU’s defense leads to offense, demolish Wyoming
Just as fans were trying to find their seats, Zyrus Fiaseu picked off Svoboda for a 29-yard pick six and the first touchdown of ASU’s 2024 season just 41 seconds in. Fiaseu transferred from San Diego State and had three tackles for ASU in the win.
“It was just the play call,” Fiaseu said. “Play call was right and I did my job. When you do your job and you execute, good things happen. I was glad I scored, but I just did my job… Just seeing everyone hyped and it’s the start of the season, it’s amazing.”
Svoboda’s return to his home state of Arizona went from bad to worse as Sun Devil linebacker Keyshaun Elliott snatched an 18-yard interception on the very next drive. Ian Hershey converted on the 29-yard field goal try, extending Arizona State’s lead to 10-0.
ASU kept the defensive pressure on Wyoming while the Cowboys suffered multiple, self-inflicted wounds. In the first quarter alone, they had five penalties for a loss of 45 yards.
While Svoboda struggled, Leavitt shined for Arizona State and showed why head coach Kenny Dillingham and his staff trusted in him that he is the rightful starting quarterback to lead the program. Pinpointing open options with not much difficulty, Leavitt found his Sun Devil receivers and went to his running backs when he needed to.
“It’s fun being out there with the team, and seeing the atmosphere,” Leavitt said. “I feel like I played pretty well, always going to be certain things you want back. Overall, happy with the win. I wasn’t too nervous coming into this game, and that’s a testament to the coaching staff and the team just preparing, having answers for every situation.”
Skattebo and Chamon Metayer both bulldozed their way to the end zone and Hershey kicked another field goal for Arizona State to run away with the game, up 34-0.
“We played hard. That was a different team, you guys seen it, I seen it for myself,” Skattebo said. “We pushed each other, the leaders pushed each other and everybody’s been working. It’s starting to pay off.”
The Sun Devils defense was compact and kept making Svoboda uncomfortable, with Justin Wodtly forcing a fumble and snatching the live ball up from the ground for another touchdown, making it 41-0 in the third quarter.
Breaking away from any Wyoming defender, Leavitt found Kyson Brown for a 68-yard touchdown. Brown was passed to just twice, but finished with the most receiving yardage out of any Sun Devil.
With the game beyond over early, Dillingham went to backup Jeff Sims and took out Leavitt, signaling that ASU was going to cruise to victory. The Nebraska transfer Sims registered three carries and 15 yards in his first appearance for his new team.
Down 48-0 with less than 10 seconds left, Wyoming were inching closer and closer to scoring, with a nine-play drive and gaining 74 yards. While ASU dominated throughout the game, the Cowboys didn’t want to leave Tempe emptyhanded as backup quarterback Kaden Anderson found Chris Durr for a touchdown to break the shutout with two seconds remaining.
“We dominated the line of scrimmage,” Dillingham said. “That team is the team that runs the football and stops the run and the fact that we went out there and ran the ball for 240 yards, there is no chance on earth we could have even come close to doing that last year.”
ASU outgained Wyoming 499-118, led 27-8 in first downs, picked up four penalties and had 37:04 of possession.
Setting the tone and creating a vibrant atmosphere in Tempe, this was the second-most attended game by students in program history with 13,698. Only the game against UCLA had more with 14,084 on Sept. 24, 2014.
“That was unbelievable, the student section was absolutely incredible,” Dillingham said. “We have to figure out how to keep them in the second half, there are so many distractions around this place that we have to figure out how we keep them in the seats. Unbelievable turnout.”
Next Games
ASU: Home vs. Mississippi State (1-0) | Sept. 7 | 7:30 p.m. PT
Wyoming: Home vs. Idaho (0-1) | Sept. 7 | 12:30 p.m. PT
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers ASU Athletics, the Phoenix Mercury and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
