The rematch of last season’s Big 12 championship game features two teams sliding downward in the conference race.
Defending champion Arizona State has lost two of its last three games and Iowa State has dropped three straight heading into Saturday’s clash in Ames, Iowa.
The Sun Devils clobbered the Cyclones 45-19 in last season’s conference title game to earn a spot in the College Football Playoff. On Saturday, there’s not nearly as much at stake.
Arizona State (5-3, 3-2 Big 12) stands in a four-way tie for fifth place after losing 24-16 to visiting Houston last week.
The Sun Devils also will be without quarterback Sam Leavitt due to a right foot injury. The other time he sat out with this issue — Oct. 11 at Utah — Arizona State lost 42-10.
During the loss to Houston, Leavitt exited the game to be examined before returning and aggravating the foot again.
“Sam got re-tweaked there at the end,” Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham said. “He got tweaked at the beginning and we sent him in to get some imaging.”
Sixth-year player Jeff Sims will start in place of Leavitt, who has passed for 1,628 yards, 10 touchdowns and three interceptions this season and fired three touchdown passes in last year’s Big 12 title game.
Sims has 32 touchdowns against 29 interceptions in a career that began with three seasons at Georgia Tech and one at Nebraska. This is his second season with the Sun Devils.
“I wasn’t really too shocked after what happened Saturday,” Sims said Tuesday upon learning he’d be starting. “I just kind of told myself, ‘Just be ready if you got to go.’ I prepare the same way, you know?”
Sims hit 18 of 38 passes for 124 yards and was sacked five times when he started against Utah. Still, Iowa State coach Matt Campbell views Sims as a dangerous threat.
“When you see a guy like Jeff that’s played a lot of really good football, it’s a unique challenge,” Campbell said.
Meanwhile, the Cyclones (5-3, 2-3) are in a tie for ninth after blowing a 14-point lead and losing 41-27 at home to then-No. 11 BYU.
Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht was picked off a career-high three times. Overall, he has passed for 1,933 yards and 10 touchdowns against six interceptions.
In the middle of the program’s first three-game losing streak since 2022, Campbell is urging his squad to finish the season strong.
“I feel like we’re inches away from being the team we want to be,” Campbell said. “… You don’t see a team that’s quitting, you don’t see a team that’s not playing really hard. You see a team where there’s a couple moments where we’re trying to press the envelope, we’re making critical errors and we’ve got to be better.”
