Arizona State football knows Texas State’s aggressive DNA well

TEMPE — Arizona State football’s road matchup with Texas State on Thursday is far from a trap game because the Sun Devils understand how good the Bobcats are.

ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham went so far as to call Texas State the best team the Sun Devils have faced thus far.

“This is the best football team we’ve played, these guys play hard. You watch the tape, they play with passion … they are explosive,” Dillingham said. “We have to be fresh, we have to be healthy and we have to be fundamentally sound.”

While Arizona State (2-0) won its opener in a blowout with polar opposite halves in the second game, Texas State (2-0) has seen the reverse.

In their first game, the Bobcats built an 18-0 halftime lead over Lamar before escaping with a 34-27 win. Then on Saturday, they stomped UTSA 49-10 — a matchup of two popular picks for the Group of Five playoff spot — with over 500 yards of total offense to show for it.

“They’re physical, they play hard, they play with effort,” running back Cam Skattebo said. “I played against that head coach at Sacramento State when he was at Incarnate Word, so I know what he brings to the table as a coach.”

Sacramento State was bested 66-63 by head coach G.J. Kinne and Incarnate Word in the 2022 FCS quarterfinals. Skattebo rushed for 101 yards and two touchdowns and threw for another score in the loss.

In Kinne, Dillingham sees an offensive mind who built a creative run scheme from coordinating at UCF under Gus Malzahn, Dillingham’s former boss at Auburn.

kenny dillingham on monday talked about the extensive run scheme texas state head coach gj kinne has cultivated.

he also said the bobcats could compete at a power 4 level and kinne will land on coaching watchlists. pic.twitter.com/TtiJbmkOJf

— Damon Allred (@iamdamonallred) September 11, 2024

“All those guys are gonna be physical, those guys are gonna play hard,” Skattebo added. “They’re all smart, they don’t recruit dumb guys.”

The physicality translated to holes for explosive play-makers to capitalize on Saturday. Four of Texas State’s seven touchdowns were on plays of at least 20 yards, and two of those were more than 40 yards.

Arizona State has given up just one play of over 30 yards so far, the 80-yard touchdown by Mississippi State’s Kevin Coleman Jr. to cut ASU’s lead to seven late.

What will Arizona State RB Cam Skattebo do for an encore?

Skattebo had by far the most productive Week 2 for a running back, with his 262 rushing yards beating the second-most in the country by more than 50 yards.

“I think it was a mentality thing,” Skattebo said Tuesday of what went right. “The guys up front realized that we were better than them, and I was behind them with a lot of anger. I had 50 yards in the first seven carries and I was like, ‘This is gonna be a long day boys. Let’s put it to these guys,’ and they trusted it. That’s what we had our game plan set to be.”

He saw limited action in the open portion of Tuesday’s practice. Dillingham emphasized that Skattebo needed to get to Thursday feeling fresh.

ASU’s overall rushing attack is seventh in the FBS at 293.5 yards per game. The Texas State rush defense is nothing to scoff at, ranked in the top 20 in yards allowed. The Bobcats have 9.5 tackles for loss.

The Bobcats crowd the box and thrive on chaos, which the Sun Devils hope to neutralize through physicality and heavier packages that have shown up in practice this week.

Youth vs. experience in the quarterback matchup

From a passing standpoint, Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt is still waiting for everything to click into place going into his third start.

His own run game, however, has been one of the brighter spots of the offense outside of Skattebo. Leavitt has 115 rushing yards on 19 carries through two games, with both touchdowns coming against Mississippi State.

Dillingham on Monday reiterated his confidence in the downfield passing coming around, but there might not be time to wait with a blitz-happy Texas State team up next.

“They’re going to blitz and they’re gonna blitz a lot on early downs,” Dillingham said. “They create chaos. These guys play very, very aggressively on defense, and we have to be ready to combat that in early downs.”

Both of Leavitt’s touchdown passes this season have come under pressure, and his completion percentage is about 15% higher when blitzed, according to Pro Football Focus. His 66.7% on those dropbacks is top 30 in the country.

Blitzes could lead to a susceptible back end of the Bobcats’ defense for Leavitt to make good on 20-plus yard throws, but he’s 0-for-6 so far as a Sun Devil.

On the other sideline is Jordan McCloud, a former Arizona Wildcats quarterback with more schools on his resume than Leavitt has collegiate starts.

With a stop in South Florida prior to Arizona, McCloud was the Sun Belt player of the year with James Madison in 2023 before transferring in-conference to Texas State.

A dual threat in his own right, McCloud is unflappable with nearly 40 starts under his belt, according to Dillingham.

“You’re not gonna go out there and run something new and think they’re not gonna figure this out or he’s gonna get rattled here. You’re not gonna spook them,” Dillingham said. “I think that the challenge this week is how can we not let him know what’s happening, and we can’t give things away.”

ASU is Texas-touring for 1st road trip

Dillingham showed up to his Monday press conference in a “Texas to Tempe” shirt. Defensive backs coach Bryan Carrington wore a “Texas Devils” shirt at practice on Tuesday.

The ASU staff knows how important Texas is as a recruiting base and how key good showings are when there are games in the Lone Star State.

Arizona State has never had this many players from Texas, including defensive lineman C.J. Fite, whose father played for Texas State.

C.J. Fite, who had a “thicc-six” against Mississippi State, is excited to go on the road and play Texas State on Thursday.

Having grown up about five hours northeast of Texas State, Fite had to get 13 tickets for friends and family. pic.twitter.com/0Yc2Qe9CcX

— State of the Sun Devils (@AZSportsDevils) September 10, 2024

“I think it’s awesome for those guys to get to go back home,” Dillingham said.

The coach said he’s intrigued by whom the Tillman Leadership Council will choose to be the gameday captain. Last week’s was running back Kyson Brown, originally from Mississippi.

ASU goes to Texas Tech next week, the Sun Devils’ final game in Texas this season. Four Big 12 schools are based in Texas, so trips will be regular occurrences.

How to catch Arizona State vs. Texas State

The Sun Devils and the Bobcats face off at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday at UFCU Stadium.

Listen to coverage beginning at 2 p.m. on the Arizona Sports app, ESPN 620 and 98.7 FM HD-2. Matt Barrie, an ASU alum, will be on play-by-play duties for the TV broadcast on ESPN.