With a spot in the College Football Playoff semifinals at stake, the Big 12’s past will meet the Big 12’s present.
Following Saturday’s 38-24 win over Clemson, Texas football has advanced in the 12-team playoff. Awaiting Texas is Arizona State, which did not have to play in the postseason’s first round because it earned a bye after winning the Big 12 championship. That is the same Big 12 title that Texas won last year during its last season in the conference.
This quarterfinal quarrel will take place at the Atlanta-hosted Peach Bowl on Jan. 1. The Longhorns played at that site, Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the SEC title game on Dec. 7 against Georgia, but Texas has never played in the Peach Bowl. Arizona State hasn’t been to the Peach Bowl since 1970.
The winner of the Peach Bowl will play the winner of Ohio State versus Oregon:
GOLDEN: How Texas football took a Georgia knockdown and responded with a Clemson KO
Here are five things to know about the Sun Devils:
1. Confident Cam leads Arizona State rushing attack
Arizona State has been paced offensively this season by the play of senior running back Cam Skattebo, who has rushed for 1,568 yards and 19 touchdowns. After scoring three times in the Big 12 championship game, Skattebo told reporters that “Nobody respects the fact that I’m the best running back in the country.”
Skattedo finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting this season. Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, who has rushed for an NCAA-leading 2,497 yards, was the runner-up to Colorado star Travis Hunter.
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2. Arizona State, Texas have both played Mississippi State this season
Texas and Arizona State do have one common opponent on their schedules. On Sept. 7, Arizona State earned a 30-23 win over 2-10 Mississippi State. Three weeks later, that same Mississippi State team lost a 35-13 game in Austin.
3. Arizona State has held onto the football
Arizona State has lost eight turnovers this season, which is the second-lowest total on the Football Bowl Subdivision level. Redshirt freshman Sam Leavitt has had just five of his 304 pass attempts intercepted (by comparison, UT quarterback Quinn Ewers has thrown 10 interceptions over 376 passes).
At the Peach Bowl, Arizona State will face a Texas defense that has forced 29 turnovers. That’s tied for the most in college football.
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4. Texas transfers take up a half-dozen spots on the Arizona State roster
Texas fans will recognize a few names on the Arizona State roster; six Sun Devils started their collegiate careers in Austin. Defensive back Xavion Alford, receivers Jake Smith and Troy Omeire and defensive linemen J’Mond Tapp, Prince Dorbah and Zac Swanson are all ex-Longhorns.
The biggest contributor among these Texas Exes is Alford, who spent two seasons at USC after playing at Texas in 2020. Alford has 82 tackles, four pass breakups and two interceptions this season.
Last week, Swanson made it clear that he hoped that Texas would beat Clemson and advance to play Arizona State. “That’s a team who kicked me out and said I was never going to be good enough to play there,” said Swanson, who spent two years at Texas as a reserve before transferring to Arizona State this offseason.
5. Why are Arizona State teams nicknamed Sun Devils?
According to Arizona State, its student newspaper began a campaign in 1946 for the school to replace “Bulldogs” with “Sun Devils” as its nickname. The student body later voted for that to become official.
But what is a Sun Devil? Several reports credit then-Arizona State track coach Donn Kinzle with coming up with the idea of a Sun Devil when he saw a dust devil while on a run.
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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas vs Arizona State: 5 things to know about the Sun Devils
