No. 16 Arizona State crushing Arizona 35-0 at halftime
By David Howman
It's halftime down in Tucson and the 16th ranked Sun Devils are laying the lumber on their rival Arizona Wildcats, leading 35-0.
Seemingly everything has gone Arizona State's way in the first half. Superstar running back Cam Skattebo has been dominating on the ground, with 113 rushing yards and three touchdowns on just 16 carries. Quarterback Sam Leavitt has completed 76.5% of his passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns, with receiver Jordyn Tyson accounting for 137 of those yards on seven catches. Tyson caught one of Leavitt's touchdowns, with tight end Chamon Metayer scoring the other one.
Things got off on the absolute right foot for Arizona State, who got the ball to start the game. They marched down the field for 75 yards before Skattebo scurried in for two yards and his first score of the day. The Wildcats ended up punting after just four plays on the ensuing drive.
The Sun Devils strung together a quick scoring drive after that, with Tyson getting wide open over the middle on third down for a huge catch-and-run that netted 59 yards in total. Two plays later, Skattebo notched his second touchdown run.
Another Wildcat punt precipitated another quick score from Arizona State, with 25+ yard runs from both Skattebo and backup running back Kyson Brown before Leavitt hit Tyson in the endzone. After that, Arizona managed to get into field goal range, but kicker Tyler Loop missed from 55 yards.
Another run heavy drive from the Sun Devils led to Skattebo's third touchdown, and it wasn't until Arizona State's fifth drive of the day that they were forced to punt. Arizona then put together their best drive of the day, but defensive tackle Jeff Clark blew up a run play on fourth and short with just over a minute left to go.
That's when Leavitt hit Tyson for a beautiful toe-drag catch down the sideline before later finding a wide open Metayer in the endzone after a bit of a scramble. The quick drive took just 46 seconds over five plays and allowed the Sun Devils to take a dominant 35-0 lead at halftime.
Arizona State is now just 30 minutes from their first Territorial Cup win in three years. A win could also potentially vault the Sun Devils into the Big 12 title game, depending on how other games this evening finish with respect to tiebreakers. But the Sun Devils first have to hold on and keep their foot on the gas.