Cam Skattebo: ‘There’s nobody out there that can stop me’

Confidence has been a theme for ASU entering the Peach Bowl against Texas, and its two best offensive players have led the charge.

After Sam Leavitt declared he would prove he’s the better quarterback in the game, Cam Skattebo added fuel to the fire on Monday when he expressed a belief that “there’s nobody that can stop me” when he runs at a defense.

The running back’s comments were a doubling down after he said he was the best running back in the country with the Big 12 title game’s Most Outstanding Player belt hanging from his shoulder after beating Iowa State.

“I’ve been watching the tape, and I mean, he deserves to say that,” Texas green dot linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. said on Friday. “He’s running guys over. He’s catching balls out of the backfield, so I feel like he deserves to say that.

“But at the end of the day we have a challenge and we’re an elite defense, so I can’t wait to play against him and see who’s really the best.”

To his credit, few defenses have contained Skattebo this season.

He had just four games below 4.5 yards per carry, and in three of those, he still managed to rack up over 100 total yards via his contributions in the receiving game. The only one he didn’t was the season-opening blowout over Wyoming in which he totaled 68 total yards on 12 touches.

While his last two games have come against two of the bottom five rush defenses in Power 4 by PFF grading (No. 63 Arizona and No. 66 Iowa State out of 67), Skattebo had a first-half trio of touchdowns against No. 23 rush defense BYU.

It’s worth noting his other best games came against No. 40 Utah (158 yards on 22 carries), No. 47 Mississippi State (262 yards on 33 carries), No. 57 Kansas (182 yards on 25 carries) and No. 67 Oklahoma State (153 yards on 23 carries).

A bottom-three yards-per-attempt game came against No. 64 Texas Tech. He finished with 3.3 yards averaged across 18 carries for 60 yards and added 117 receiving yards on six catches.

“I’m a versatile, all-around back. I’m my own game, I do my own thing,” Skattebo added on Monday. “I bring physicality with versatility, and that’s pretty rare in the league.”

He missed a game against UCF, the highest-graded rush defense among Big 12 teams at No. 19. ASU was held to 99 rushing yards on 32 carries with Kyson Brown and Sam Leavitt getting the bulk of touches.

What does Kenny Dillingham say about ASU’s outward confidence?

“Everybody’s different, and I think sometimes people want to put personalities in a bubble: what you’re supposed to say, what you’re not supposed to say, make sure you say this. Everybody wants to just almost take personalities and force them into what it should look like. I couldn’t disagree more with that,” head coach Kenny Dillingham said at Monday’s media day availability. “I want our guys to be themselves. That’s it.

“If what makes you play better … is you gotta express it, express it. If you’re a guy who wants to be humble, and I’m just about the work, and that’s your personality, then that’s you. There’s so many ways to be successful.”

It’s an unapologetic approach that Dillingham has taken since he stepped foot on campus and took the position a little over two years ago.

It’s clear to see how his example of how wearing his heart on his sleeve in one-second-left referee interactions or hopping up and down with field-mobbing students has reverberated into the locker room and made the team’s players more comfortable with wearing their hearts on their sleeves as well.

ASU and Texas square off in the Peach Bowl on Wednesday at 11 a.m. MST. Listen to play-by-play coverage on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM with pregame starting at 8, or catch the TV broadcast on ESPN.