No. 15 Arizona State’s Big 12 Championship Game against No. 16 Iowa State was practically over before it started: running back Cam Skattebo and the Sun Devils pummeled their conference opponents 45-19 to seal their spot in the College Football Playoff.
The Arizona State star once again to show as he totaled 208 all-purpose yards and three scores in the routine victory. Skattebo let everyone know he deserves to be in the Heisman conversation alongside Colorado’s Travis Hunter and Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty on multiple occasions.
After he scampered into the Iowa State endzone from three yards out in the second quarter, Skattebo did a little dance before proceeding to hit the Heisman pose. Postgame, he expanded upon why he hit that move.
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“Nobody respects the fact that I’m the best running back in the country,” a confident Skattebo told reporters. “I’m going to stand on that. I’ve been disrespected my whole life. No matter winning the Heisman or losing the Heisman, I should still be in that situation.”
Skattebo’s stats on the season stack up with just about any other Heisman-winning running back in recent memory – he’s rushed for 1,568 yards and scored 22 times.
Unfortunately for the Arizona State rusher, his competition for the trophy is fierce. Hunter will likely take home the crown thanks to his stellar two-way play, tallying 1,152 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns while also serving as a lockdown cornerback.
Jeanty’s 2,497 rushing yards total falls just short of Barry Sanders’s 2,628 mark in 1988 at Oklahoma State. His Boise State side is also in the College Football Playoff.
Skattebo’s Arizona State clinched their spot in the CFP with the win as the Big 12 victory. They will almost certainly earn a first-round bye if Clemson holds on to beat SMU. The Sun Devils posted four top-25 victories on the season. Their only losses came to Texas Tech and Cincinnati on the road.
With a bye, Arizona State would play the winner of the No. 12 vs No. 5 matchup. Much of the College Football Playoff is still to be decided with the remaining conference games underway on Saturday evening.
In his postgame interview, Skattebo expressed that he’s thinking about more than just the rest of this college football season. “Whatever NFL team takes me is going to get a gem,” he declared.
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